Blair Goes Glee
by complete-randomalities
Summary: If you spent your days navigating Werewolves, Vampires, and Curses you'd want a break from Reality, too. Blair certainly needed one hell of a vacation from the insanity that was her life, but instead of taking one like a normal person she looked to her Witch friend for help. But not for a second did Blair think she'd ever end up in Lima, Ohio in a very Gleeful Reality. (On Hiatus)
1. Alive

**A/N: Hey, Readers! Fair warning – I might not continue this story. My friend and fellow Fanfic writer Thisismexxo put the idea in my head so I had to do something about it. This is the result, but like I said it might just be this one 'Episode' and nothing further. Anywho, here it is…**

 **P.S. Another fair warning…I didn't edit :D (don't hate me)**

* * *

 _If you spent your days navigating Witches, Werewolves, Vampires, Hunters, and Curses you'd want a break from Reality, too. Blair certainly needed one hell of a vacation from the insanity that was her life, but instead of taking one like a normal person she looked to her Witch friend Bonnie Bennett for help. Bonnie recently discovered a 'Reality Jumping Spell' or a universe jumping one, whichever terminology is preferred. Well, as soon as Blair heard about the Spell she wanted it cast on her ASAP. The spell would send her to a different Reality for a specific reason – the reason being unknown, but there would be one. And Blair wouldn't be able to leave said Reality until she – in her Alter's body – achieved completion of whatever the reason might be. That and dying would send her back. Blair found no fault in this and had the Spell cast upon her right away, but not for a second did she think she'd ever end up in Lima, Ohio in a very_ Glee _ful Reality._

* * *

When Blair first arrived in this Reality she learned that her Alter's parents had been killed in a freak surfing accident off the coast of Hawaii and all her stuff was being packed up and shipped off to Ohio – Blair included. Why Ohio? – Because her guardian lived there. None other than Sue Sylvester. Apparently Sue knew her Alter's parents _way back_ and it was put in the will that if anything happened to them both that Sue could get custody. Well, something did happen and Blair was shipped off to Ohio. Blair was grateful when her Alter's memories started to filter in the longer she spent there because already this Reality gave her a weird vibe but had no idea just how weird it was going to get.

Presently Blair stood on the sidelines of the football field next to Sue Sylvester and watched the cheerleading routine. She crossed her arms with a heavy sigh because she was bored out of her mind. Yeah, there was a time in her own Reality where she was a cheerleader and loved it, but there was no way in hell she would join this squad if for no other reason than Sue Sylvester was a nut.

"Can I go now?" Blair had asked that about every five minutes since their arrival. "No matter how many times you make me watch practice, it's not going to convince me to join."

Sue didn't take her eyes off the squad doing a complicated routine as she answered her. "I shouldn't have to convince you of anything. I give you a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food in your stomach. You should join because your stubborn ass is grateful."

"You only want me to join because I won a bunch of medals un gymnastics," Blair shot back. "Not because you think I should be grateful."

Sue ignored her and blew her whistle when they screwed up the routine. She brought the megaphone to her mouth and shouted, "You think this is hard? Try being waterboarded. That's hard."

"I'm leaving now." Blair walked away without waiting for permission this time. As much as she hated this high school already, she would much rather be in its halls than out there with her.

* * *

For some reason, once Rachel Berry discovered Blair was being transferred to McKinley she took it upon herself to be her best friend. Blair had to repeatedly tell her that she wasn't a foreign exchange student and could speak English but it took awhile for Rachel to grasp that understanding. Finally she did, and for some reason Blair kept hanging out with Rachel – despite how annoying she thought Rachel was.

As soon as Blair walked into the school Rachel seemed to appear out of nowhere and linked arms with her. "Holy mothballs, Batman! You need to wear a bell or something." How Rachel always seemed to just appear was a mystery to Blair, but she was trying to get used to it.

"Bells are very tacky unless worn for a specific costume," Rachel answered as she moved some hair over her shoulder. "But you know all about tacky—take that outfit for example. You do know there are other colors in the world besides black, right?"

Blair opened up her leather jacket to show Rachel the purple lining. "I'm not just wearing black. See? Purple. It even matches my lingerie."

Rachel looked appalled when Blair said that. "I did not need to know that information."

"Then you shouldn't have assumed that all I wear is black." Blair sarcastically grinned as she stopped at her locker.

Rachel exhaled exasperatedly. "Sometimes I wonder how we are even friends."

"Beats me." Blair got the book she needed, shoved it in her bag, and slammed the locker shut.

Rachel rolled her eyes a bit at that. "Are you going to sign up for Glee Club? Mr Schuester is taking over."

Blair walked down the hall and laughed. "Our Spanish teacher who can barely even speak Spanish is taking over the Glee Club? That's going to amusing."

"So you're going to sign up?" Rachel sounded very excited about this prospect.

"I don't do school activities. Haven't I said this before?" Blair leaned against the wall next to the bulletin board while Rachel signed her name on the Glee sheet. She proceeded to roll her eyes when Rachel put a gold star next to her signature _again_.

"I think this would be a good experience for you. You can't let your loss dictate your entire life forever." Rachel was trying to be a supportive friend, but Blair didn't take it as such.

"You still have both your parents," Blair shot back, "so don't try and tell me how my loss should affect me." She wasn't able to say anything else because one of the football asshats – as Blair called them – walked by and threw a Slushie right in Rachel's face. Blair's temper flared at this act of bullying. "Oh hell no." She was about to go after that guy but Rachel stopped her.

Rachel grabbed hold of Blair's arm with both her hands to keep her there. "Don't do anything, Blair. It won't help me and you'll just get into trouble."

"Someone needs to punch some sense into them!" Blair shouted down the hall, hoping the asshat would hear.

Rachel pulled on Blair's arm to get her attention. "Don't start a fight, Blair. It's not worth it."

Blair took a deep, seething breath before giving in. "Fine. Let's get you cleaned up." She walked with Rachel to the girl's room and proceeded to help get out as much of the Slushie off Rachel as she could.

* * *

After school, Blair sat on the bleachers and started in on her school work. Sue wouldn't let Blair have a key – something about not trusting juvenile delinquents – so Blair had to wait until Sue was done with the Cheerios before she could go home.

It didn't take her very long to finish the work because not only was this stuff covered already in her Reality, but because this wasn't her fire life that attended High School. When all the work was done, she popped on her headphones and turned on some music. When her favorite dance song came on, she couldn't help but start moving along with it.

There was a time in her Alter's life where music, dance, and gymnastics were as important to her as breathing but when her parents died that all changed. It wasn't until Blair took over her Alter that she was starting to heal. Little by little Blair let those things back into her life but didn't push it because she and her Alter were starting to blend and what bothered her Alter bothered her. It wasn't hard for Blair to deal with though because it was just like dealing with one of her past lives, but even so it was a bit different.

While Blair was jamming out to the song playing through her headphones, Sue looked back to check on her. Seeing Blair moving around like that brought a momentary smile to her face because it was a step in the right direction. Blair's therapist told Sue to appreciate the small victories and to her, this was one of those. Now Sue wasn't about to let herself go soft so she turned back around and started yelling at the Cheerios to work harder.

Blair didn't notice when Sue turned back to look at her and she wasn't even aware that one of the football asshats was checking her out as well. Blair was lost in her own little world until the song ended and then she went to get a jumpstart on the work for the following day, all the while waiting until she could get out of there.

* * *

Blair cooked dinner that night – per all Sue's health requirements. When they both sat down at the table, Blair commented on the Cheerios routine. "Marcia is still lagging on the flips. You should tell her to do it on two instead of three because she's always a second behind. It throws everything else off."

Sue was impressed by Blair's observations and made note of that. Of course she wouldn't give Blair any credit if improvement was made, but Blair already knew this. "If you were on the Cheerios it wouldn't be a problem."

Blair stabbed her steamed vegetables with more force than necessary. "Give it a rest, Sue. I am not going to, nor will I ever join the Cheerios. That part of my life is a closed chapter. No Nationals of any form for me."

Sue shook her head at this. "You're so talented, Blair. And you know I don't say this to anyone but I'm saying it to you. You're just throwing it away!"

"I'm eating in my room." Blair took the plate off the table and went into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

The next day at school were the Glee Club tryouts. Blair didn't participate herself but she went in support of Rachel. She had to admit that Rachel was pretty damn talented, but wouldn't admit it aloud. Rachel's ego where her talent was concerned was big enough as it was so Blair wasn't about to inflate it any further.

At the end of the tryouts, Blair gathered up her bag to head out of the Auditorium but was stopped by Mr Schue.

"You're Blair, right? You planning on trying out today?" There weren't many who did and he would be grateful for another member.

Blair didn't answer him anything but a laugh – a laugh that echoed in the Auditorium until she walked out of it.

"Okay then," Mr Schue said to himself and left as well. He was about to go down one end of hallway but stopped when he heard shouting coming from the other end. Blair was getting in the face of one of the football players and it looked pretty heated.

"You Slushie Rachel ever again and I rip your head off! If you're lucky it'll be the one attached to your shoulders." Blair punched him in the gut to make her point known and stormed off only to meet Mr Schue face to face. "I thought the hallway was empty."

"Nope. But if you want me to forget what I saw and you pretend that it was, I think we can come to an agreement." Mr Schue opened the door to the Auditorium and smiled, figuring she'd get the idea.

Blair scoffed an incredulous chuckle. "You want me to audition? That's not gonna happen – I don't sing. So suspend me, expel me, do whatever it is you gotta do because I am **not** trying out for Glee Club."

Mr Schue pondered this for a moment before saying, "Well I guess I could always tell Sue you threatened and punched a fellow student and let her be the judge of your punishment."

Blair's face went white at the thought because Sue would most likely make her join the Cheerios as punishment. With her head held down, Blair walked into the Auditorium muttering, "What song do I have to sing?"

"Your pick." Mr Schue smiled excitedly as he took his seat at the table and waited for Blair to trudge her way up to the stage. "Have you picked a song yet?"

"I'm thinking!" Blair shot back with crossed arms. "I haven't done this in a while." Blair herself had no issues with singing but her Alter had the problem. It brought back memories of her singing with her parents in the car or in the kitchen or just about anywhere. It made her sad to sing but Blair pushed through it and picked a song.

Blair finally picked a song but it wouldn't sound right if there wasn't any music so she sat down at the piano and channeled an ability that her Alter did not have – playing the piano. Her fingers played the quick intro to 'A Thousand Miles' before she started singing. After the first few notes Blair was lost in the moment and could hear all the other instruments playing along and would swear she could even see them. She didn't miss a word of the lyrics of a note of the music – the joy of singing from her own Reality and for her Alter flowed through her and surged her voice even higher, loving every minute of it.

When the song wound down she played the final notes on the ivories before turning around on the piano bench to face Mr Schue. "Can I go now?"

Mr Schue was a bit in awe of her performance and nodded. "Yeah. I'll see you at rehearsal."

Blair stopped mid-step when he said that. "You just said that I had to audition. You never said I had to _join_."

She had him there, but Mr Schue played it off like she didn't. "No, I'm pretty sure I did tell you that you had to join. See you tomorrow."

"You're evil, Mr Schue. Downright freaking evil!" Blair swiped her bag off the floor and stormed off the stage without another word.

Mr Schue was left feeling pretty good about himself for getting another person to join – even if his methods were far from normal.

* * *

Blair did _not_ tell Sue she had joined Glee Club – _made_ to join Glee Club was more like it. That was some drama that Blair wanted to avoid at all costs, so instead of going out to the field the following day after school she went right to the Glee room.

Rachel gasped happily when Blair walked into the room. "You joined! You little stinker, you should have told me!"

"I didn't have much of a choice," Blair muttered as she plopped herself down into a chair in the front row with crossed arms.

Mr Schue enthusiastically walked into the room and clapped his hands together. "Alright, let's get started. Blair, won't you join us?"

"You apparently said I had to join Glee Club, but _**never**_ said I actually had to participate. I'm good here." Blair crossed her arms even tighter to affirm her stance that she wasn't going anywhere.

"Don't take it personally, Mr Schue," Rachel interjected. "She's had issues with music ever since her parents died."

"Wow!" Blair shouted as she bound to her feet. "Thanks for telling the whole group that!" She waved her hand at the other members before leaving the room.

Rachel realized her mistake as soon as it came out of her mouth. "Blair, I'm sorry!" She started to go after her but Mr Schue held out his hand to stop her and went out instead.

Mr Schue caught up to Blair before she left the building. "Blair, wait." He shot out his arm to keep her from leaving. "I don't know your story, but Glee Club is the best place to work through whatever it is your feeling. You can take all that emotion and put it into the music. I know you can do it. I saw you do it. Your audition blew me away. You have a gift."

"That's all anyone has ever said to me my entire life," Blair shot back. "You have a gift. Well what good is my gift when the two people who meant the most to me in the world don't even exist anymore? Tell me, Mr Schue, how the hell can Glee Club fix the hole I've had inside me ever since a cop came to my hotel room and told me my parents died in the water right outside? And don't give me any more crap about putting my emotions into music. That doesn't fix anything. At most, it's a goddamn Band-Aid."

When Blair pushed past Mr Schue and out the door, he didn't stop her. He would have to come up with something to help Blair because he felt like that she needed Glee Club even more than it needed her.

* * *

Blair avoided everyone who was a part of Glee Club the following week and even skipped Spanish class with Mr Schue because she didn't want to get cornered by him again. Everything was going according to plan until one of the football asshats, Finn, came up to her at her locker.

"You're supposed to be in Glee Club right? And you're friends with Rachel?" Finn's tone had a sound of desperation to it that caught Blair's attention.

She closed her locker and leaned against it with crossed arms. "Maybe. Why?"

Finn didn't bother beating around the bush with his answer. "Because Rachel is kinda freaking me out a bit and you're a badass so I was hoping you'd, I don't know, be like a barrier between me and her or something?"

Blair chuckled a bit at this request. "Now why would I help you do that? You and your asshat buddies bully the one friend I have in this school and I'm pretty sure you've sent Kurt dumpster diving at least twice. So you're on your own, buddy." She clapped her hand on his arm. "Good luck."

Finn quickly matched pace with her as she walked away. "I'm serious. Please. I'll do anything. She really is freaking me out and I have to stay in the Club if I want to avoid getting kicked out of school."

Blair paused and turned around on her heels. She looked up at Finn because he was considerably taller than her. "Mr Schue gave you the choice of Glee Club 'or else', too, huh?" At his nod, she scratched the side of her nose in thought. "Nope. Not gonna happen. Music and I have a hate-hate relationship."

Finn tried to say something else to her but froze in fear when she whipped around, pointed a finger at him, and seethed, "One more word and I'll rip your tongue out." Finn took her threat seriously and walked away as quickly as possible.

Blair rubbed her forehead with a heavy sigh before going on her way. Whatever the reason was for the Spell sending her there, she hoped she found out what it was soon because Blair was so over this place.

* * *

Blair hadn't spoken to Rachel since she stormed out of Glee Club over a week before and she couldn't believe she was actually starting to miss her annoying friend. Her days were one and the same – school, waiting after school for Sue to be done, dinner, bed, and all over again the next day. The same old routine was starting to drive Blair up the wall. Maybe it was time to mix it up and find something else to do?

She had a free period in school that day and went to the empty Auditorium. If only her Alter didn't have such issues with music it would make it so much easier. But that wasn't the case and even the therapy sessions Sue made her attend didn't do much to help. Maybe Mr Schue was right. Maybe she did need to express herself through the music, even when the music was part of the problem. Yeah, Gymnastics was Blair's thing but music – that was something her Alter shared with her parents. It was important to all of them. Blair decided it was time to push her Alter past their comfort zone so that's what she did.

Blair went to the sound system, plugged in her phone to play the instrumentals to a song she loved and hated because it was an emotional one for her, You Found Me by Kelly Clarkson.

She closed her eyes and sang the song with everything she had and when her eyes opened she would swear that her parents were sitting in the front row looking up at her proudly. Blair poured every ounce of everything she had into that song and didn't even realize she was crying as she did it. She just completely gave herself over to the music and her Alter started to as well. The vision of seeing her parents there meant as much to her Alter as it did to Blair herself because she lost her parents in her Reality as well, but it wasn't until that moment she herself felt as if she was starting to heal.

When the song came to its end. Blair pulled her phone from the system and was about to leave but didn't because she realized she wasn't alone. Rachel was standing in the wings on the other side of the stage from her. Blair didn't say anything because she wasn't sure what Rachel was doing there, yet alone how much she saw or heard.

Rachel crossed the stage over to her friend with an amazed expression upon her face. "Blair, I – I had _no idea_ you could sing like that. I mean I knew you could sing, I've heard you sing to yourself a few times, but that…that was a whole other level. I _felt_ it." She placed her hand on her heart to emphasize then stayed quiet in case Blair had anything to say, but she didn't. After another moment, Rachel asked, "Does this mean you're coming back to Glee Club?"

"Are you going to reveal any more of my secrets?" Blair shot back.

Rachel crossed the last bit of distance between them, saying, "No. I swear."

Blair sniffled back some tears. "Good. Because I really missed my friend."

Rachel felt like crying herself and did a little bit as she hugged Blair. When they finished hugging their moment out, Rachel pulled back to ask, "Have you heard that Mr Schue is quitting?"

Blair's eyes went wide at that. "Are you kidding me? What?"

"It's okay." Rachel linked her arm with Blair's and left the Auditorium with her. "Glee Club has a plan."

* * *

The plan was they were going to keep going on with Glee Club even if it meant Mr Schue wasn't going to be a part of it. Blair thought this was crazy but went along with it. Mercedes fitted her for a costume, well a red shirt anyway, and Rachel teased her mercilessly about finally wearing something other than black. Blair found herself laughing more than she had in a long time – in either Reality. The Club was working together and listening to one another. Their strengths were being put to use no one was left out. Blair's life in her Reality had always been of the supernatural variety but this was all so…human. She almost forgot what that felt like.

Finally they were ready to practice on stage. Blair wore the red tank-top and matching midriff open sweater that Blair tied together, red fishnet gloves, and her black jeans. She stood in line on stage and started the opening acapella notes with her fellow Glee Club members to Don't Stop Believing.

It was amazing what Blair felt on that stage, singing that song, and dancing what Rachel choregraphed. There was no worry, no pain, no grief. Blair didn't have to be afraid of what new supernatural entity was going to burst through her life, she didn't have constant reminders of all the people she herself lost, and she – she could just _be_. For the first time in a long time Blair felt _alive_.

Blair had no idea that Sue was watching, or Mr Schuester, of the football asshat that kept looking at her on the bleachers everyday after school. And it didn't matter. All that mattered right there in that moment was having the time of her life, so that's exactly what she did.

When the song came to its end, she heard the sound of clapping and looked up to find Mr Schue standing in front of the stage.

"It was good, guys," was Mr Schue's greeting. "It's a nine. We need a ten." He walked onto the stage to join them. "Rachel, you need to hit the ones and the fives. Finn, I think if we worked on it, you could hit a high 'B'. And Blair, don't be afraid to go for it. We both you can."

Finn looked at the group then to Mr Schue. "So does this mean you're staying?"

It most certainly did. "It would kill me to see you win Nationals without me."

Blair and Tina shared a high-five right before Mr Schue said to the group, "From the top."

 _Those three words meant something to small and yet they opened the door for the insanity that would follow. At least, it would be insanity for Blair. It is amazing how different things appear just from a different perspective._

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 1


	2. Feeling

**A/N: TRIGGER WARNING – SELF HARM TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS EPISODE**

* * *

When Blair walked out of her bedroom that morning, she almost walked right into Sue. Sue stood there with posture straight, arms firmly crossed, and a displeased look upon her face. Well, a more displeased look than normal. "You're doing that angry statue thing again. What did I do this time?" Blair went to the kitchen to snag a protein bar and bottle of juice before school.

" _Glee Club_?" Sue made her distaste for Glee well known with that question. "You could be up in the penthouse of high school hierarchy with the Cheerios, but you'd rather be in the subbasement with the _Glee Club_?" She scoffed incredulously as she waved her arms up. "And you didn't even have the decency to tell me."

Blair took a sip of juice and closed the bottle before shoving it in her bag. "Because I knew you'd act like this. If it isn't about the Cheerios then you don't want to hear about it. _Or_ you talk down about it because you don't think it's good enough." She put her bag over her shoulder. "Can't you just be happy that I'm doing _something?_ Or would you rather I lock myself in the closet again and cut up my arms again?"

Sue's face went white when Blair asked her that. Finding Blair that day was one of the most terrifying moments of her life and she never wanted either of them to relive anything like it again. "How can you even ask me that?" Her tone wasn't as poignant as before, in fact it almost cracked as she spoke.

Blair rubbed her forehead. "I shouldn't have said that, Sue. It's just…Glee is _actually_ helping me. It's actually making me start to feel better. I'm not ready to do anything else yet, so please just let me have this?"

"If your little club doesn't place at Regionals then Figgins is cutting the program." Sue was curious if Blair already knew that or not.

Honestly, hearing this didn't surprise her, but she wasn't going to give Sue the satisfaction of hearing her concern. "If that happens then I'll just have to find something else to do." Blair headed to the door because she wanted this conversation to end. "But you gotta accept it, Sue. I am _never_ going to join the Cheerios. Now if you'll excuse me, I don't want to miss the bus."

Sue was about to say something about the Cheerios but stopped when she heard Blair mention the bus. "The _bus?!"_ She darted through the door and called out to Blair, "Riding the bus is for ingrates!"

Blair just answered that by giving her a big thumbs-up before making her way to the bus.

* * *

Blair walked off the bus outside the school and pulled down her long sleeves, sticking her thumbs through the holes near the cuff to make sure they stayed there. After her parents died, cutting up her arms was something she did to cope. At the time she wasn't ready to feel the emotional pain so she forced herself to feel a physical one. That stopped the day Sue found her and made her go see a therapist – despite Sue thinking they were all quacks. Blair didn't hide her scars because she was ashamed of them – they were a part of her journey – but that didn't mean she wanted people to question her endlessly about that. _That's_ why she covered them up – it was her story, not theirs.

"Blair!" Rachel rushed over to her and linked arms. "Oh my gosh, I just left the library and found a whole bunch of sheet music that would feature me wonderfully as the lead."

"You're not the only talented singer in the club, Berry," Blair retorted, but Rachel didn't hear a word of it.

"Oh! There's Mr Schue. I need to tell him about the music. I'll see you later!" Rachel darted over to the parking lot, leaving Blair shaking her head and laughing her in wake.

Blair was about to head into school but caught sight of Kurt climbing out of the dumpster _again_. "You've got to be kidding me." She sprinted over and did her best to give him a hand out of the thing. "I'm serious Kurt, you should hire me as your body guard." Once he was in his feet, she took a piece of stained paper off his shoulder and threw it back where it belonged.

"You can't fight your problems away," Kurt answered as he picked up his bag from the ground.

Blair scoffed a chuckle. "Are you kidding me? I fight my problems every day." She linked her arm with his and walked into the school with him. "So tell me, whose ass do I need to kick this time?"

Kurt sighed dramatically. "Those football jerks. Puck something or other and Liam Fabray with some other guys."

Blair shuddered a bit when Kurt mentioned Liam. Liam looked _exactly_ like Matt Donovan and had to be his Alter in this Reality but the names were different. Bonnie told her at the Alters would have the same names as their counterparts in the other Realities, so it just made her a bit nervous.

Kurt noticed the shudder and raised his brow a bit. "Please tell me you don't have the hots for him."

"I was just thinking that I don't have to punch him in the gut again," Blair answered, trying hard not to think about the possible connection between Matt and Liam. "He's the guy that keeps throwing Slushies at Rachel."

"Good luck with not getting expelled." He waved to Blair as he walked off to his classroom.

Blair went down the hall to stop at her locker and found Rachel making her way to the bathroom, completely covered in blue Slushie. Her blood boiled when she saw Puck laughing with a Slushie cup in his hand. "I've warned you!" Blair shouted before dropping her bag and running over to Puck. She tackled him to the ground and was about to punch him but felt herself being pulled off by someone.

"That's enough of that," Liam said to Blair as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her off.

"Get your hands off me, jackass!" When he set her down, she whipped around and shoved him. "Intervene again and your next." Blair turned back to Puck who was back on his feet. "I swear to the deity of your choosing that I will kick your ass if you ever do anything like that to my friend again!"

When Blair stormed off, Puck called out to her, "You're lucky you're a chick or else I'd have kicked your ass!"

Blair scooped her bag off the floor, flipped him and those around him the bird, and went to check on Rachel.

She found Rachel standing at the sink, trying to get the Slushie out of her hair. Blair set her backpack on the counter and pulled a smaller bag out of it. "Change of shirt, no-rinse shampoo, and some styling product because the no-rinse stuff can make your hair look flat."

"You just carry this around with you?" Rachel looked a bit in awe at that.

"I have three other kits like this in my locker and they'll continue to be of use until the Slushies finally stop or I break enough hands to make them stop." Blair smiled with pure innocence in that moment.

Rachel blinked at her a few times. "Blair, I know you're my friend, but honestly…you scare me sometimes."

"Which is why you should be glad I'm on your side instead of joining the forces of evil." Blair waved her hand around Rachel's face. "You want help this time or…"

"No, I got it. But thanks for this." Rachel popped off the cap of the no-rinse shampoo bottle and started washing her hair.

"No problem. See you later." Blair grabbed her bag and headed to class.

* * *

Glee Club that day was a bit tense. Mr Schue had them performing 'Freak Out' which was _so dated_. They apparently didn't have a choice because they were going to be performing that song at the Pep Rally to try and gain new recruits. If they didn't have twelve members then they wouldn't even qualify for Regionals. Right now, they only had seven.

Before they all parted for the day, Blair went over to Mr Schue and tried to get him to see reason _again_. "Mr Schue, I know you said it's not the song that it's us, but seriously…it's the song. Yeah, okay, you took Nationals with it in '93, but this isn't '93 anymore. What was a crowd pleaser then isn't a crowd pleaser now. So I'm literally _begging you_ to pick a different song for the Rally. If you really want kids to join then you're gonna have to give them something to relate to." Blair took a deep breath, "Just please consider it. I don't want Glee to fail."

Mr Schue nodded slightly. "I'll think about it. Now get to class."

"At least you'll think about it." Blair drummed a bit on the piano top before leaving the classroom. She walked down the hall and turned the corner to find Puck standing there with a full Slushie cup in his hand. He was just about to throw it at her but Liam's hand seemed to shoot out of nowhere to stop him.

"What you doing, man?! It was a clear shot!" Puck did not understand the actions of his teammate.

"She's off limits, Puck. You hear me?" Liam stared Puck down to make sure he got the memo.

Puck pushed the cup into Liam's chest with a scoffed, "Whatever," before storming off.

Liam turned around and smiled at Blair. "You're welcome."

"Oh, I wasn't going to say 'thank you'," Blair sassed back. "If you can keep them from throwing Slushies at me then why the hell can't you stop them from going after everyone else?"

"Everyone else isn't Sue's kid," Liam answered back. "I look out for you, Sue won't take her frustrations out on Quinn, and I don't get punched in the gut by you anymore. It's a win-win-win."

"I punched you because you threw a Slushie at Rachel. Not at me." Blair decided to add in an extra point by punching Liam in the stomach again before saying, "I don't need your protection, asshat."

Liam rubbed the spot where she punched him because, damn, it was one hell of a punch and it made him even more attracted to her than he already was.

* * *

Blair accepted Rachel's invitation to sleep over at her house that night so presently they were up in her room working on the disco dance routine. "This is so stupid," Blair laughed as she fell back on the bed. "No one is going to join – you do realize this, right?"

Rachel turned off the music. "Of course I do. Which is why Finn and I are going to put up some flyers tomorrow to promote the Glee Club so we don't have to do the assembly."

"You like Finn don't you. And don't even try to deny it because it's written all over your face every time you're in the same room as him." Blair threw a pillow at Rachel that just barely missed her head.

Rachel picked up the pillow and sat on the edge of the bed, picking at a loose thread on the pillowcase. "He doesn't even see him. I'm invisible to him."

Blair's answer to this was simple. "Then screw him."

Rachel looked uncomfortable at that. "How can I even think about sleeping with him when he doesn't even see me?"

Blair laughed, "No, that's not what I meant. I mean 'screw him' as forget about him because he's not worth it. If Finn can't see you then he isn't worth it. You deserve to be with someone who can see you even when you are invisible."

"You mean like Liam with you?" Rachel sighed at Blair's confused expression. "It's all over school how no one is allowed to mess with you or else they'll have to deal with him."

"Ugh, no. Liam is only doing that because he wants Quinn to have brownie points with Sue. It literally has nothing to do with me." Blair hopped off the bed and grabbed her pajamas. "I claim the bathroom first."

Rachel didn't argue about it and just started to get her things together for her own bedtime routine. When Blair came out of the bedroom wearing a long-sleeve set, she said, "I keep my room pretty warm at night. You might be uncomfortable wearing that."

"I'm used to it." Blair shrugged and got her sleeping bag ready.

Rachel was going to leave it at that but something stopped her so she turned around to ask, "Why do you wear long sleeves all the time? Even when it comes to our costumes you make sure it's long sleeves."

Blair took a deep breath before turning around to face her. "It's my own business, Berry. I wear long sleeves to avoid the questions that will come if I don't, so please don't ruin it by asking about them." She dropped her pillow and sat on the floor. "Bathroom's free."

Rachel felt concerned for her friend so she didn't move from her standing spot. "Do you cut? Is that why you don't want anyone to see your arms? I only ask because the guidance counselor gave me a whole bunch of self-harm pamphlets when she caught me trying to throw up."

Blair's head shot right up when she heard that. "You tried to make yourself throw up? Rachel!"

"I tried, I failed, I'll never try it again." A disgusted expression appeared on Rachel's face. "It grossed me out. But that's not the point." The concerned expression was present again. "Do you cut?"

Blair rubbed her forehead before answering. "Not anymore. And that's all you're going to get out of me."

Rachel didn't say anything else and just knelt down in front Blair and hugged her. After Blair hugged her back she waited a few moments before pulling away and getting up to go to the bathroom.

Blair fell back onto her pillow and hoped like hell that Rachel wouldn't blab about that too.

* * *

At the next Glee Club meeting they met in the Gymnasium. Mr Schue wasn't there before Rachel paid a freshman to ask him for help with irregular verbs in Spanish to keep him busy. Rachel took lead of the meeting and told them she had a different idea for the assembly. "You officially have my attention. What's your idea, Berry."

Rachel grinned. "We're going to give them exactly what they want – _sex_."

Blair laughed because she didn't think Rachel meant what she said but soon realized she did. "Oh, wow, you're serious? You think it's a good idea to sing a song to bump and grind to? Wow…yeah, I'm not interested."

Rachel couldn't believe that Blair was getting her things and leaving. "Wait, where are you going?"

"If sex is what's most important about this Glee Club then I don't want to be a part of it. I'm not gonna flaunt myself in front of the whole school to get more members. I'd rather quit. So as of now my membership is on probation. Good luck with the assembly."

Rachel scoffed at her actions but soon got back on track. "Moving on. This is what we're going to do…"

* * *

Maybe Blair should have told Mr Schue what the rest of the Glee Club was up to, but she didn't. Instead she faked laryngitis and got a note from the school nurse to get out of the performance. The nurse didn't believe she really had it, but didn't want any bad word to get to Sue. Even the school nurse was afraid of Sue's wrath.

So, instead of being on stage with the rest of the club, Blair sat on the bleachers with the rest of the student body. If they came to their senses and didn't do whatever song about sex they picked, then Blair would probably join them. But if they didn't, she was going to stay right where she was.

After Figgins made an announcement that the toilets were broken and no one was allowed to defile the school grounds because of it, he introduced the Glee Club. Yeah…they didn't come to their senses. Blair had a face-palm moment when they started singing 'Push It' by Salt-N-Pepa.

Mr Schue's eyes went wide when they started their performance. He looked to Blair who was sitting next to him and now her face-palm. "You don't have laryngitis, do you?" When she shook her head, he asked another question, "You knew they were going to do this?" This time she nodded. "We're gonna discuss this later." Blair still didn't look at him and just gave him a thumbs-up to indicate she heard him and apparently wasn't going to argue.

At the end of the song the entire student body, just about anyway, got to their feet and cheered. It pissed Blair off because they weren't cheering for the Glee Club, they were cheering for the sexual display that was just put on for them. That wasn't what Glee Club was about – it was supposed to be about something special. A place where you could go and be accepted when no other place like that existed. It would have meant a whole lot more if they showed _that_ instead of _this_. Which was why Blair grabbed her things and left the Gymnasium.

* * *

One thing that Blair really hated about this Reality was that she didn't have anywhere to escape to. In Mystic Falls she had so many of them, but here in Lima, Ohio…she didn't. Not sure what else to do, Blair signed up as a volunteer at the hospital. She had no idea why in the holy blazes she decided to do that, but presently she was in the geriatric wing reading a sappy love story to one of the patients.

Blair stopped mid-sentence to say to Mrs Whipple, "Okay, I'm sorry, but you know how predictable these things are, right? I mean, no matter what extra lady they throw in the guy is _always_ going to end up with the girl. And why do almost all the lead guys have blue eyes? Seriously."

Mrs Whipple laughed at Blair's comments about her preferred choice of book. "That's what makes them enjoyable, toots. There's no worry, no anxiety, no fear of the unknown. It's a comfort to old ladies like me to pick up a book like that and just know we're going to love it, as predicable as it may be." She reached over from her hospital bed and patted Blair's knee. "Now quiet denying this dying old lady her love story and keep reading. You're almost at the proposal."

"You're recovering from hip surgery. You're not dying." Blair gave Mrs Whipple a teasing stink eye before getting back to the story. About a half an hour later they finished the book.

"Same time next week?" Mrs Whipple wanted to know this because no one else would read her stories to her.

"Absolutely." Blair waved goodbye and headed down the hall only to stop when she heard guitar playing from another patient's room. This made her curious so she moved closer and peeked around the corner. Her eyes went wide when she saw Liam Fabray standing near the patient's bed playing the guitar and singing to them. Not only was he singing but singing well. He was singing 'La Da Dee' and at one point of the song he looked right at Blair and sang the lyrics, "While other girls are looking fine, you're the only one on my mind."

Blair realized she'd been caught so she booked it out of there. She thought she was safe when she made it to the bus stop but since the bus was late Liam caught up with her there.

"You stalking me, Han?" Liam asked as he took a seat on the bus bench next to her and grinned.

"I was here first," Blair retorted, not looking at him.

Liam sat his guitar case down beside him. "I was at the hospital first. Been volunteering there since last Summer and it's the first time I've ever seen _you_ there."

"You don't seem like the kind of a guy to do something like that." Blair still wasn't looking at him.

"Just because we have brief encounters at school doesn't mean you know me." Liam leaned back a little and looked down the street. "Bus is late. Want a ride?"

"Nope." Blair crossed her arms and did everything she could to will the bus to her.

"I didn't see you performing at the assembly. You quit or something?" At Blair's severe glare, he held up his hands. "I'm just making conversation."

"No, you're just looking for a way to make sure Quinn stays on good terms with Sue. Well, guess what, I'm the last person you should be looking to for that. You think that just because Sue's my guardian that I have sway with her?" Blair laughed at the possibility. "Sue would dump me off on the next person if she could but there isn't anyone else for her to dump me off on. So please just leave me the hell alone with all…" Blair waved her hand around her, "…this. Quinn's on her own as far as Sue's concerned."

Finally the bus pulled up to the stop. She pointed at it saying, "That's my ride."

Before Blair stepped onto the bus, he said, "I lied. When I told you it was for keeping Quinn on good terms with Sue, I lied. I intervened because if Puck Slushied you his face would have met my fist instead of yours."

Blair stopped on the first step long enough to say, "I don't believe you." She darted on the bus and went straight to the back, hating the fact that she wanted to believe him but didn't know if it was because of Liam or because he was Matt's Alter.

* * *

When Blair had free period the following day, she went into the auditorium. The first thing she did was do a few back-flips across the stage just because she could. There was just something about being there on the empty stage that Blair loved. She'd spend her entire school day there if she could. The only that was wrong with it was the silence. Blair _hated_ the silence she did something about it. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, plugged it in and picked an instrumental version of 'Cut to the Feeling' then grabbed a microphone.

Blair didn't care if she hit the notes right or if the lyrics were perfect, she just had _fun_. This is what singing was supposed to be about – letting go, expressing yourself, and just being yourself. There was a point in the song where Blair even pulled off her sweat-jacket and threw her aside. Her scars were exposed in a place that wasn't her home or a bathroom fir the first time in a long time and she didn't care.

When the song came to it's end, she laughed. It just felt so good, she had to do it. Her laughter was cut short when she heard a single applause and looked out to see Liam walking down towards the stage. Blair didn't get a chance to talk before he did.

"You know, after seeing that assembly performance I decided there was no way in hell I was going to join Glee Club. But if that club lets its members thrive like _that_ ," he pointed at Blair to refer to what she just performed, "then I just might have to reconsider." Liam turned around to head back where he came and waved at her over his shoulder. "See you around, Han."

Blair opened her mouth to speak but found she had no words. One thing was for sure though. As much as Liam looked like Matt Donovan, there was no way she'd ever be able to compare them again. They really were two distinctly different people and realizing that, well that just might change everything.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 2

* * *

 **A/N: A special thanks to Thisismexxo for all the brainstorming help! Honestly, this Episode wouldn't have existed without them because I didn't think I was actually going to continue it, but here it is. Hope y'all enjoyed it! : )**


	3. That Dakota person

**A/N: Hey, Readers. Fair warning, I didn't proofread this 'Episode'. Again, please don't hate me for any typos etc. Thank you. Hope y'all like it.**

* * *

Blair sat in her living room and went through a box of things that she pulled out of storage. It was filled of memories that she wasn't ready to face before but felt better about it now. She pulled out the gymnastics awards she won over the years and set them aside to get to what she was looking for. At the bottom of the box was an envelope filled with pictures. Blair looked through them with a melancholy expression on her face. The laughing faces of her parents and herself during her childhood, Blair and her mom belting out some song while her dad played on the piano, birthdays, and events of the like. It broke her heart that she would never have memories like this with them again.

Blair rolled up her sleeves and took out another pack of pictures from when she was a baby. When a certain image came up, Blair froze. It was a picture of her mom in the hospital bed, holding her newborn baby, her dad standing beside the bed proudly, and on the other side with a wide smile on her face was… _Sue_. "What the?" Blair scrambled to her feet and went into Sue's bedroom with the picture in hand. "You never told me you were there when I was born."

Sue took the picture from Blair, saying, "Of course I was. I _am_ your Godmother after all."

Blair took a double-take at that moment. "You're my what? How did I not know about this?"

"Did Viv never tell you about your Auntie Syl?" When Blair nodded in a 'yeah, so' manner, Sue pointed to herself. "That's me."

Blair couldn't believe what she was hearing. " _What?_ Auntie Syl was my mom's best friend. You are not how she described."

"It was a long time ago." Sue waved her hand dismissively. "We drifted apart but she always kept me updated about you." She could see that Blair was having a hard time wrapping her head around this. "Despite what you think, I do care about you."

Blair felt like her entire view on the world had just turned inside out. "I'm going to clean up the living room." She couldn't think of anything else to say and just turned around to book it out of there.

Sue still had the picture in her hand so she brought it over to her closest. She pulled down a shoebox that was filled with letters and pictures from her old friend and added that one to the collection.

* * *

"No. Way." Kurt couldn't believe what Blair just told him as they walked down the hall to class. "Sue Sylvester is your godmother? That means she managed to walk into a church without bursting into flames."

Blair couldn't help but laugh at that. "It explains why she's my legal guardian. When the lawyer told me I was gonna be living with her he just said it was stipulated in their will and there wasn't anyone else. He then told me when I turn eighteen I'm gonna get a fifty grand inheritance but can't touch it until then."

Kurt stopped dead in his tracks when she said that. "Are you serious?"

Blair nodded in a 'yep' manner.

"You are officially my new best friend." Kurt sounded more excited about it than she was.

"Oh, so it's not my sparkling personality that makes me your new best friend?" She was definitely teasing him.

"It's the money." Kurt was kidding of course, but he couldn't get the vision of a massive shopping spree out of his head. "Money which you could share with your new best friend who will most likely be in dire need of a new wardrobe by then."

Blair shook her head and laughed because Kurt was just something else and that was one of the things she liked most about it. "If we're still friends by then I _promise_ to take you shopping."

Kurt was practically beaming now. "Speaking of shopping, did you do some recently? You're not wearing all black…or long sleeve for that matter."

Blair stopped at her locker and looked down at her dark purple and black striped tank top. "Didn't feel like it today."

It wasn't until Blair reached into her locker that he saw the scars on her forearm but didn't say a word about it. Everyone had a story – himself included – and it wasn't his place to pry. "Well, purple is a good look on you. You should get purple highlights in your hair. That'd be epic."

"I don't get the money until I'm eighteen, Kurt," Blair countered as she closed up her locker. "Let's save the makeover plans until then."

Kurt linked his arm with hers as they walked. "On your eighteenth birthday you will be presented with an array of binders full of possible makeover options because I am determined for us to still be friends by then."

Blair playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "I feel like I'm being challenged."

Kurt gave her a sideways grin. "Is it working?"

She nodded once. "Challenge accepted."

"Excellent!" Kurt was back to beaming again. "And for the record, even if you didn't promise me a shopping trip I still would be determined to be your friend by then."

"I know." Blair gave Kurt a friendly peck on the cheek. "This is my stop. Later, loser."

"Later, jerk," Kurt answered and went on his way.

* * *

Glee Club wasn't like it used to be. After Rachel told Mr Schue that he wasn't a qualified choreographer and she thought they should hire someone named Dakota something or other, Mr Schue seemed to lose his mojo. At least where the Glee Club was concerned. He started his own group called the Acafellas and either missed Glee rehearsals completely or didn't pay much attention to anything when he was there.

"This is ridiculous," Blair scoffed as she sat on top of the grand piano in the Glee room. "It's been two weeks. I thought we were a priority to him."

"Doesn't help a guy's ego when he gets kicked in the nads," Finn answered as he poked at the piano keys.

"Why did Rachel have to go off on him like that anyway?" Liam interjected from his seat in the back row. "The choreography wasn't the greatest, we all know that, but there were better ways to go around it."

Quinn placed her hand on her chest, saying, "I'm sorry, brother, but I happen to agree with Rachel. If we're ever going to make it then we need professional help. Did you not see Vocal Adrenaline's videos? We don't stand a chance against them without it."

"I for one believe in putting in the effort instead of casting someone aside just because they're not perfect," Liam shot back.

Their conversation was cut off when Rachel walked into the room with her tray of I'm Sorry sugar cookies. "He's not coming."

Finn waved his hands towards Rachel. "Of course he doesn't want anything to do with us after you kicked him in the nads."

Kurt raised his hand as he said, "Can we please stop talking about kicking in the nads? Blair is getting that evil gleam in her eye again so I think she's planning on evolving from punching."

As a result of that being pointed out, every guy in the room covered their 'family jewels'.

Rachel ignored this and responded to what Finn said. "If it was such a problem then why did he thank me?"

"The goal is to win," Santana interjected. "And now that Mr Schuester has agreed to let us hire Dakota Stanley, we can."

"I said it before and I'll say it again – This is ridiculous." Blair waved her hand around the room a bit as she talked.

Finn happened to agree with her. "Mr Schue doesn't really want us to. He just doesn't have the confidence to coach us anymore. Guys are real sensitive when it comes to this kind of stuff."

Rachel couldn't believe this. "And that's my fault?"

Blair plucked a sugar cookie off the plate, saying, "See anyone else with a plate of 'I'm sorry' cookies?"

Rachel scoffed at Blair for that. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"And I am…just not with this." Blair took a bite of the cookie with a mild shrug.

Quinn stood up from her seat. "I'm bored. All those in favor of hiring Dakota Stanley?" She raised her hand and a bunch of the other Glee members did too. In fact…the majority did.

* * *

Blair sat on the stairs outside during lunch period and almost jumped out of her skin when Finn and Liam joined her. "I swear you guys just materialize out of nowhere."

"Is that a good thing?" Finn asked as he sat on the step in front of Blair.

"I think she's trying to say we scared her." Liam sat on the step right behind her. "So, what are we going to do about this Dakota person? Are we seriously going to sit by and let them take over Glee?"

"Why do you even care?" Blair shot back as she looked at him. "You literally just joined."

"It was love at first song," Liam answered in a dreamy tone of voice, making Blair roll her eyes and Finn laugh.

"I say we strike. If Mr Schue doesn't come back then we quit." Finn took a bite out of his sandwich. "It probably wouldn't phase Rachel. She already said she wouldn't care if anyone quit."

Blair handed Finn a much needed napkin because he had mustard all over his chin. "You'd think she'd care more. If there aren't enough members then the club can't even qualify for Sectionals and then Glee Club will no longer exist. Maybe threatening to quit will work. We're only a few members short as it is, but if we all leave then they're back to needing to double their members. It's actually not a bad plan."

Blair looked between the guys asking, "Since when did we start eating lunch together?"

"Since right now." Liam grinned as he took a drink from his soda can. "Or did you miss the memo?"

Blair threw a wadded up napkin at him.

"At least she didn't punch you," Finn laughed and ended up getting pelted in the head with a napkin as well.

"As fun as this is, I have free period next so I'm headed to the Auditorium." Blair cleaned up her mess and headed down the stairs.

Liam didn't take his eyes off her once as she walked away.

Finn noticed this and laughed. "Dude, just ask her out already."

Liam set his soda can down beside him. "If I ask her out now it'll be a definite no. I plan on waiting until it's closer to a maybe."

"If you wanted a better chance with her then you probably shouldn't have repeatedly Slushied her best friend." Finn gave him a bit of a 'you blew it there' expression.

Liam sighed because he knew Finn had a point. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty."

* * *

Blair heard that Mr Schue's Acafellas lost some of its members so she thought that would bring him back to Glee. That all changed when she also heard that Finn, Liam, and Puck were now a part of the group. She intended on barging into their rehearsal that Tuesday evening to give them all a piece of her mind but stopped at the door. She looked in and had to cover her mouth to cover her laughter because they were all wiggling their hips and swinging their arms like they were trying to hit a baseball or something. So she changed her mind about barging in and waited.

Blair stood around the corner in the hall so when Liam and Finn passed her, she stepped out, saying, "Were you gonna mention your new membership status? Or did I miss the memo."

This time it was Blair who scared the hell out of them. "Jesus, Blair. Wear a bell or something," Liam had to give her props for scaring them, though.

Finn put his hand on his chest. "My heart is pounding."

"Now we're even. And as far as wearing a bell goes, a friend once told me that bells are tacky unless they're for a specific costume." Blair placed one hand on each of their shoulders and walked down the hall with them. "So…you guys are Acafella's now?"

"For two reasons – It's fun as hell, and we thought it might boost Mr Schue's confidence in teaching us again." Liam gestured to Finn. "If you're mad at us blame him. It was his idea."

Finn looked at him like he'd just been betrayed. "Thanks for throwing me under the bus, man."

Now Liam was gesturing to Blair. "You saw the evil gleam in her eye the other day. I do not want to be on the receiving end of that wrath."

Blair thought this was very amusing but put it to an end. "As adorable as your fear in me is, I'm not mad. It's pretty genius, actually. Wish I could be a part of it, but alas I cannot." She took a couple steps ahead then turned around and pointed at them. "But I expect an invitation to your next performance. If there's more arm swinging, hip swaying choreography in there I am bringing a video camera."

* * *

The day for the Glee Club car wash fundraiser was upon them and Blair didn't plan on going but did. She was a little late in arriving but arrived just in time to see Mercedes throw a rock through Kurt's windshield. "What the hell?" Blair was just about to storm over there and find out what was going on but was stopped dead in her tracks when music seemed to play out of nowhere as Mercedes strutted forward and started singing with the Cheerios accompanying her in a choreographed dance as she sang 'Bust Your Windows'.

Blair looked around to see if anyone else was seeing what she was seeing but they were all washing cars. "Buh – wha…" She couldn't even formulate the words and a part of her thought she was hallucinating the whole thing. When the song ended, in the blink of an eye the Cheerios were back to washing their cars and Mercedes was standing opposite Kurt at his vehicle.

"Nope, not even gonna think about it." Blair sprinted over to Kurt as he kept saying to Mercedes,

"You busted my window! How could you do that? You busted my window!"

"Well you busted my heart," Mercedes sassed back with an additional, "Hmm!", before walking away.

Blair leaned on the hood of Kurt's car beside him. "So…do you wanna talk about it or…" She was answered when Kurt just walked away. "Oh not." She popped her lips. "Okay then." Blair twirled around and went over to Sue who was overlooking things. "Surprised to see you here."

"I enlisted the Cheerios to help with this little fundraiser. Why wouldn't I be here?" Sue looked at Blair for a moment. "I want Glee Club to succeed."

Blair scoffed a chuckle at that. "Okay. I'm not sure what you're really up to, but as long as it raises money for Glee – I thank you."

Sue was surprised to hear her say that. "I think that's the first time you've ever thanked me for anything."

Blair shrugged. "Gotta start somewhere." She walked over to Finn and caught the wet cloth he threw at her. Since it was in her hand she proceeded to help him. Why not? It's not like she had anything better to do that day.

* * *

Apparently they raised enough money to hire the Dakota person because at the next Glee Club rehearsal he was there – Blair was not. Going to rehearsal with him there felt like she was turning her back on what was important. It wasn't winning or doing whatever it took to win – that's not what Blair was there for. That club gave her the start she needed to finally begin to heal and she wasn't going to turn her back on that or Mr Schue in support of that Dakota person.

So while everyone else was in rehearsal, Blair stood in the center of the Auditorium. She was getting things set up for her own rehearsal when Liam walked onto the stage with his guitar case. "What are you doing here?" she wanted to know.

"Glee didn't feel the same without your ominous presence." Liam grabbed a pair of microphones and handed one to her. "What are we singing? Actually, I'm going to pick it."

Blair scoffed at his behavior. "Now what makes you think I want to even sing with you? Or that I'll know the song you pick for that matter."

Liam had answers for both these questions. "For starters, we better get used to singing together in case Mr Schue ever decides to pair us up and secondly, trust me. You'll know the song."

Liam put the microphone in the stand, then got ready with his guitar. Every time he saw Blair jamming out with her headphones on, this was the song that was playing. He started strumming the guitar strings and grinned when she realized what it was.

Blair couldn't believe he knew how to play 'Domino' but wasn't going to question it. She made sure the mic was one and started to sing along with his music. Blair sang the first part, he sang the second, and then they sang together for the chorus. She couldn't help but dance as they sang together – this was her go to song.

Liam couldn't stop himself from smiling as they sang together. He felt like he was starting to make progress, but more importantly they were having fun.

Blair's heart was pounding a bit by the end of the song. "How did you know that was one of my favorites?"

"Your headphones aren't as quiet as you may think they are." Liam was about to take that moment to ask her out but was interrupted when Finn burst into the Auditorium.

"There you guys are," Finn called out to them. "Rachel came to her senses and fired Dakota and Mr Schue is more confident than ever. Glee Club is back!"

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 3


	4. Single Ladies

**A/N: TRIGGER WARNING - MENTIONS OF SELF HARM IN THIS 'EPISODE'**

* * *

Blair promised to help Kurt film a video of him, Tina, and Brittany lip syncing and dancing to 'Single Ladies' but was running _so late_. When she finally made it to Kurt's house, she didn't even bother ringing the doorbell or anything and went right inside, darting straight for Kurt's room in the basement. "I'm so sorry I'm late! Sue had me polishing some mini antique battering ram thing and I lost track of time." Those words quickly left her mouth as she went down the stairs.

There wasn't any music playing because Kurt's father was standing in front of Kurt, Brittany, and Tina. The ladies were wearing black leotards, tights, and heels while Kurt wore a full body unitard, a flashy black glove, with a matching vest and tie. She couldn't help but feel like she'd just walked into something tensely awkward. "Am I interrupting?"

"No!" Kurt answered with a bit of a squeak before clearing his throat. "No, of course not. In fact you're just in time to be introduced to my dad." He reached out to take Blair's hand and pulled her to his side. "Blair, this is my dad. Dad, this is Blair…my girlfriend."

Mr Hummel looked at his son with a bit of a stoic expression. "Okay. Make sure you all behave yourselves down here and keep the music down, I can barely think." He headed up the stairs and paused for a moment. "Kurt, make sure you get me a ticket to your first game."

Once the upstairs door opened and closed, Blair looked at Kurt with a raised brow and crossed arms. "Girlfriend?"

"I panicked!" Kurt looked at Blair gratefully. "But thank you so much for not saying anything."

Blair shrugged in a 'whatever' fashion. "It's all good. Besides, I've always wanted to enact one of those fake epic breakup scenes."

"I love those scenes," Brittany interjected. "I could totally help you practice."

Blair didn't say anything about that because she had something else to ask Kurt. "Uhm…what game was your dad talking about?"

"F – football," Tina stuttered in reply.

Blair could fill in the blanks there. "Hold on. Your dad thinks you're playing football?" When Kurt nodded, she laughed, "What position?"

"Kicker," Kurt answered, and Brittany added in, "Because that's the smallest player on the field, right?"

Blair covered her mouth to try and hide her laughter, but was failing.

Kurt narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh be quiet and film." He took the camera off the tri-pod and handed it to her.

"Whatever you say, loser," Blair grinned and turned it on to record.

"Thanks, jerk." Kurt turned the music on a lower setting then hit play.

* * *

Blair went to Glee rehearsal early so she could talk to Kurt. He was the first one there and was sitting in the room alone on a chair in the front row. When Blair saw him like this, she just _had_ to do something. She scurried over to him, sat on his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "How you doing, loser?" Blair said this in the sweetest voice she could muster.

"I'm feeling a bit disturbed at the moment, jerk." Kurt then made the connection. "This is to get back at me for telling my dad we're dating, isn't it?"

"Yep." Blair gave him a quick, friendly peck on the cheek then sat in the seat beside him. "So, any thought about what you're gonna do with the whole, you know, football situation?"

"I'm gonna ask Finn for a favor." That's the only idea Kurt had at the moment.

"Finn's a better bet than Liam, that's for sure." She patted his back in encouragement. "Good luck with that, loser."

Kurt nudged her shoulder with his. "Thanks a lot, jerk."

Blair got to her feet when Mr Schue and the rest of the Glee clubbers walked in. She accepted the sheet music from West Side Story. "Oooo…I like this."

"Try to hold your sarcasm until later, Blair," Mr Schue answered as he continued to hand out the parts.

"I wasn't being sarcastic. I actually love West Side Story. Any modern take on Shakespeare's works are my cup of tea." Blair leaned on the piano, saying, "You shouldn't expect the worst out of people all the time, Mr Schue. It'll give you wrinkles."

Mr Schue chuckled, "My apologies," then handed Rachel her part.

Blair tuned out Rachel's rant about not being given the solo and how it was unfair. Mr Schue proceeded to tell her that she was being unfair to Tina who might be happy about getting her first solo. She only tuned back in when she heard the door slam. "Oh, did Rachel storm out again?"

"You didn't notice?" Liam laughed.

Artie basically said what Blair was thinking. "The more Rachel storms out of practice, the less of an effect it has."

Blair pointed at Artie in a 'what he said' manner before saying to Tina, "Congrats on the solo, girl. You're gonna do great." Directed towards Mr Schue, she added in, "And _no_ I'm not being sarcastic."

Mr Schue held up his hands in surrender because he felt he deserved that. "Alright, let's get started."

* * *

Blair wasn't about to miss Kurt's tryout for Kicker so she went to the football field and got a good seat in the midsection of the bleachers. While pulling out the carton of popcorn she made just for this occasion, Puck stood at the bottom of the bleachers and called up to her,

"What are you doing here?"

Blair answered in a snarky breathless tone, "Watching all you football asshats while eating popcorn gets me all hot and bothered." She even went as far as fanning herself before popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

Puck leaned on the railing and smirked. "I could think of better ways to get you hot and bothered."

Blair rolled her eyes at his reply. "Run along, Puckerman before I punch you into next week."

This didn't deter him. "You're tough. I like tough."

"Even though if I was a guy you'd have kicked my ass by now?" Blair quoted his words from the last time she tackled him.

"Which is why I'm glad you're not a dude." Puck was about to say something else to get his flirt on, but was prevented from doing so when Liam shouted out,

"Puckerman! You actually gonna get some practice in or just stand around all day?"

"Duty calls." Puck winked at Blair before sprinting over to the guys.

Blair rolled her eyes and shook her head. He had a knack for pissing her off and getting under her skin, that's for sure.

Thankfully Kurt's tryout cut into this thought process. She scooted to the edge of her seat and ate more popcorn in anticipation. Blair thought it was so Kurt to play and dance to 'Single Ladies' before kicking the football and getting it right between the goal posts. Blair jumped up and cheered, losing her popcorn in the process. "You go, loser!" She put her fingers in her mouth and let out a whistle.

Kurt waved from the field, calling back, "Thanks, jerk!"

Finn thought it was so weird that those insults were nicknames for each other but didn't say a word about it. Both Blair and Kurt were unique in their own ways and knew by now not to question it.

* * *

A few days later, Blair was at her locker and when she closed it she found Puck leaning against the row of lockers. "If you're going to throw a Slushie at me get it over with so I have a valid reason to beat you senseless."

"You know you're off limits for Slushies," Puck retorted as his eyes looked her over. "But I have another idea in mind for what I want to do to you." He was about to go on but was distracted when Blair tied her hair back and it gave him a clear view of the scars on both her arms. His expression dropped a bit when he saw those. "Whoa, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Blair eyed him a bit suspiciously. "Why?"

Puck reached out and turned her arm over so she'd get what he was talking about. "Do you still do this?"

There was just something about the tone of his voice that made her answer honestly. "No. Not that it's any of your business." Blair removed her arm from his grip and crossed them.

"If you ever feel like doing that again, you call me. I mean it." Puck was completely serious when it came to this. To prove how serious he was, he pulled a marker from his pocket and wrote his number on her locker.

Blair scoffed a bit. "What do you care?"

Once again, Puck was completely serious. "I know what can happen when someone takes that too far." He didn't say anything else about it and walked away.

Blair stood there speechless as her mind tried to process what just happened. When the ringing of the school bell finally pulled Blair from her stunned state, she went to class.

* * *

Blair sat at her usual spot on the stairs outside for lunch. Ever since the whole Acafellas point on the Glee Club's reign she'd been eating lunch with Finn and Liam there just about every day since. Finn was a no-show that lunch period but Liam came.

Liam took his usual spot on the step or two above Blair as he asked, "So, what were you and Puck talking about earlier?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Blair sipped at her cola before setting beside her on the step below.

"Puck may be my friend and teammate but he's not a great guy, Han. You can do better than Puck. Hell, I thought you hated the guy." Liam was trying pretty hard not to be jealous _but_ he was failing.

"The heart is a strange vessel," Blair said in all seriousness, "love and hatred can exist side by side." She only lasted another second of being serious before bursting out laughing. "Couldn't help it." Blair sighed. "If you're gonna make such a big deal about it, Puck and I were talking about these." She held her arm out and put her scars on display for him. "He saw these and got all weird. Told me to call him if I ever felt like cutting myself again."

Liam honestly never even noticed her scars before and this wasn't the first time she'd worn short sleeves lately. "I had no idea."

"Not many people do. I don't even bother covering them up anymore and people still either don't notice or don't acknowledge. If I knew it'd be like that I would've stuck with short sleeves awhile ago." Blair continued on with her lunch and changed subjects. "How are dance lessons?"

Liam was surprised that she knew about those and his face said this.

"Finn told me," she chuckled a bit, "and Kurt. I can't _wait_ until your next game." Blair grinned because it was going to be quite amusing to say the least.

Liam didn't respond to that and went back to what they were talking about before. "Are you okay?"

Blair let out a deep exhale. "I'm _fine_. I see a shrink once a week, I got my oddball group of friends now, and I have Glee Club. There's no need to worry about me and if you start I will kick your ass. I'm not fragile – at least not like a flower. I'm more fragile like a bomb." Blair wiggled her brows at that.

Liam didn't want to push this since it was pretty clear she didn't want to talk about it, but he had one more thing to say. "Don't call Puck if you ever feel like that again. Call me."

Blair let out another deep exhale. "I don't intend on calling either of you because I don't ever intend on it happening again."

* * *

Friday night was upon them and that meant only one thing—It was time for football! Blair was so excited to see if the dancing lessons made a difference at all _and_ she couldn't wait to see Kurt make a field goal. Other than those two things, she really didn't care about football. Okay, that was a lie, she _loved_ watching football. Just not so much at this school because the team sucked – no offense to Liam or Finn. As long as Blair had been at WMHS the football team hadn't won one game. There was hope now and thus her love for watching the game was back.

The game went on _long_. The opposing team got a touchdown but hadn't scored since and McKinley hadn't scored anything. Blair was starting to lose her hope that the game might actually be enjoyable to watch but that all changed in the last quarter. There were only a few seconds left on the clock when Finn called for a time-out. Now Blair was starting to get interested.

She scooted to the edge of her seat, awaiting for what was to come next. When the teams returned to the lineup 'Single Ladies' started playing on the speakers for all to hear. "No. Way." Blair couldn't stop herself from smiling wide and laughed in enjoyment when the McKinley High football team started dancing along in choreographed movements. "Work it!" she called out with laughter, loving every second of it.

When their dance routine came to an end, the ball was hiked to Finn who in turn threw it all the way down the field to Puck who made it to end-zone for a touchdown. Blair was one of the first to jump to her feet and cheer. "WHOO!" She put her fingers in her mouth to whistle then cheered even louder.

The game wasn't over yet – it was time for a field goal. If Kurt scored, then their team would win. Blair's body was practically shaking from the anticipation, it was _awesome_.

Everyone in the crowd grew silent. They all stood up with their eyes upon Kurt to see if he would get a field goal for the win. Once again, 'Single Ladies' played on the speakers while Kurt danced before kicking the ball. It went flying through the air…right between the goal posts. McKinley High School won! The crowd erupted in cheers all over again but with even more vigor than before because the team actually won.

Blair was so excited that she couldn't stop herself. She quickly left the bleachers and ran out onto the field with some of the other excited patrons. Puck was the closest person to her so she spoke to him first. "Kurt was awesome! And that touchdown? Amazing! Congrat - …" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence because Puck kissed her right on the lips. Blair was so stunned by the action and yet felt herself kissing him back.

When Puck pulled away, Blair blinked a few times and stepped back with her hand to her mouth. All Puck said to her about his actions were, "Got sick of the playground tactics. About time I did something about it."

Blair had a wicked flashback of Tyler Lockwood saying the same thing to her when he got sick of being mean to her when he really liked her, and now here was Puck saying the same thing. "I – I have to go…" She wasn't sure what she felt in that moment, so she ran.

Liam saw this whole thing and stormed over to Puck. "What the hell do you think you're doing with her?"

Puck acted like it was no big deal. "Chill, man. You're not the only one who likes her. It's not my fault I was man enough to step up before you."

Liam grabbed Puck by the jersey and was about to punch him, but instead he threatened, "If you hurt her – and I mean **ever** hurt her, I'll kill you."

Puck pulled Liam's hand off with a scoff then walked off the field.

* * *

That Monday at school, Blair did everything she could to avoid Puck but he still managed to corner her at her locker. "Jesus!" she exclaimed when she closed her locker and found him standing there. Blair was really getting sick of how jumpy she was in this Reality.

"Puck, actually," he corrected with a grin. "You know, I think you've been avoiding me today just like you did after the game. I didn't think anyone was capable of getting you on edge."

"I wasn't avoiding you today or on Friday. Sue is a stickler for curfew. If I was late home then she'd have had my head." Blair walked away as quickly as she could, but he easily matched her pace.

"I find it hard to believe that you're afraid of Sue's wrath." Puck stopped walking and stood in front of her to keep her from going any further. "Look, we kissed – I kissed you and you kissed me back. I would like to do it again and I have a feeling you would like that, too."

Blair crossed her arms and looked away but he wouldn't stop looking at her. She hated how his smoldering gaze made her feel. "You'll stop throwing Slushies at anyone who's in Glee Club?"

Puck grinned because he knew he was getting somewhere. "You have my word."

Blair grumbled a bit. "Fine." She pointed her finger firmly at him. "But it's my pick, we split the bill fifty-fifty, and if you try to get your hands on me I break them. Got it?"

Puck nodded with that grin of satisfaction still upon his face. "I'll see you in Glee Club."

Blair did a double-take as he walked away. "Since when did you join Glee?" she called after him but only received a wave in return. Blair rubbed her forehead as she tried to figure out how she let what just happened happen. She didn't have much time to think about it because she had to get to class. On her way there she didn't even notice that Liam was at his locker and heard everything.

Liam slammed his locker shut and stormed down the hall. He was feeling pissed as hell, not just at the situation but at himself. If he asked Blair out sooner then Puck wouldn't have gotten the chance. Liam was more or less true to his word – if Puck hurt Blair in any way, he'd kill him. Well, perhaps he wouldn't actually kill him, but he'd make sure Puck paid dearly for it.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 4


	5. Chickenpox

When Rachel quit Glee Club to act and sing in the lead role of the school's musical, Cabaret, it was like the entire club lost their mojo. They kept saying over and over again that they wouldn't get anywhere without her. As much as Blair was Rachel's friend, she was getting sick and tired of this. It was at the most recent rehearsal – right after Quinn ran out of the room sick – that Blair kinda lost it because once again they were back to saying they couldn't do it without Rachel.

"For the love of the deity of your choosing – she quit! Why is everyone in here acting like no one else has any talent? Yes, Rachel is amazing but for the love – she's not the only one. The world doesn't revolve around her and the _second_ someone pointed that out to her she bailed. Instead of being all pouty and whiny that she isn't here anymore why don't we actually put in the work to make ourselves better?" Blair looked around the room, but it seemed like her little outburst there fell upon deaf ears.

It didn't take Blair long to realize this, so she threw up her hands saying, "I'm out. Let me know when this stops being the Rachel show. And to think I thought it'd stop being that when she quit."

Mr Schue quickly stepped in there. "You can't leave, Blair. We need you as much as anyone else."

"But apparently not as much as Rachel." Blair rolled her eyes with a scoff and left the choir room.

Mr Schue sighed heavily then looked over to Puck because he knew that Puck and Blair had been dating for the past few weeks. "Do you think you could go talk to her?"

"Right now?" Puck laughed in a 'no way' manner. "I'll wait until the chance of me getting decked is lower."

Mr Schue was about to retort to this but found he couldn't. "Fair enough. Okay, let's run the chorus again."

* * *

Blair found Rachel in an empty classroom after school and went right in to have a word with her. "You're selfish."

Rachel scoffed at those words. "We've hardly spoken in two weeks and the first thing you do is insult me? And I'm not selfish."

"Yes, you are," Blair shot back. "You can't stand not being in the spotlight. If everyone doesn't bow down to you then you think they're not worth your time. Real life isn't like what you think it is in that stuck-up head of yours. People are going to not like you and you aren't always going to get your way. Happily ever afters don't always happen and real life can _suck_. The sooner you realize that the better."

Rachel was a bit stunned by her words. "How can you be so cruel?"

"I'm not being cruel, Rach. I'm being honest – I'm being your friend. I'm trying to prepare you for a massive reality check that's going to hit you in the head one of these days." Blair stepped forward with crossed arms. "So, yeah, like I said – you're selfish. You abandoned a whole group of people that were depending on you. But hey, come back, don't come back. It's your call. I just had to say all this and now I'm out."

Rachel took a deep, slightly fuming breath, as Blair walked off. "And what about what I have to say, huh? You think I'm selfish? Look at you – you're one of the most selfish people I know. You think the world owes you something because your parents died, well guess what – it doesn't!"

Blair turned back around and stormed over to Rachel. "I **never** said I expect the world to repay me for what I lost. Nothing will ever fill the void I have! Everything I do – everything I am is just duct tape and chewing gum to try and keep me together! I don't drag people into my shit. I don't make the world all about me and you have the audacity to call me selfish because I called you out?" She scoffed and stepped back with her hands up in an 'I'm out' fashion. "That doesn't even make sense."

Rachel opened her mouth to speak again but Blair stormed out of the classroom without another word. Perhaps that was for the best because Rachel had no idea what she intended to say.

* * *

Blair went to the library after she went off on Rachel because the Auditorium was in use thanks to the drama production. She hoped she wouldn't run into anyone there, but she did. When a hand shot out onto the book she was reading on the table, Blair looked up from her seat and saw Puck standing there. "This is the last place I ever expected to see you."

"I take that as a compliment." Puck slid into the seat across from her, crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

Blair groaned a bit in frustration. "Just because I'm pissed, doesn't mean I'm going to…"

Puck took her hand in his to cut her sentence short. "I know that, but it doesn't stop me from worrying about you. You know what happened to my cousin."

"I'm not your cousin," Blair emphasized. She needed him to understand that his cousin's story wasn't her own.

Puck had to lighten the conversation, so he said, "We'd be in a really weird relationship if you were. I know this is Ohio, but still."

Blair shook her head and laughed a bit because, of course his mind went _there_. She still hadn't figured out how she went from hating his guts to truly caring about him.

"That's the smile I was looking for." Puck smirked and got to his feet. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Blair closed the book with a sigh and took his hand. "How did you know I was here anyway?"

"I didn't. It just happened to be the first place I looked." Puck draped his arm around her shoulders and walked out with her.

Blair held onto the hand draped over her shoulder. "Lucky guess."

Puck looked at her with a bit of pride. "What can I say? I'm a lucky guy."

* * *

Blair woke up the next morning feeling sick and weird and itchy. In all her blah-ness she made her way into the bathroom and turned on the light. As soon as Blair looked at her reflection, she screamed. There were blisters-like-things-maybe all over her face, arms, and other places she didn't want to think about.

Sue burst into the bathroom with a phone in one hand and towels in the other because she thought Blair had done something to herself and was prepared. Upon seeing what the issue was, she set the things on the counter. "Well, well, well. Looks like you've got the chickenpox."

"Chickenpox?!" Blair squeaked because she wasn't expecting to hear that. "Don't kids usually get that?"

"Well, poxie, did you have them when you were a kid?" Sue got her answer when Blair didn't. "And there you go. Now finish up in here and get back to bed. You are _not_ going to school today."

There was a part of Blair that wanted to put up a fight about that but stopped herself when she realized just how bad she was feeling.

Sue had a tray of things all prepared for Blair by the time she got back to her room. "Okay we got a bowl of chicken soup, gloves to keep you from scratching, Tylenol if you've got a fever, and an antihistamine for the itching. Two brands of Calamine lotion and do **not** take any aspirin, Ibuprofen, or any other NSAID. Got it?"

"Uh huh." Blair climbed into bed and looked at the tray in awe. "Where did you get all this stuff?"

"I have emergency kits for everything." Sue made sure Blair put the gloves on before saying, "You are to stay in bed the entire day, understood? The wastebasket is there in case of vomiting and the phone is close by. If your fever gets too high call 911 and I'll meet you at the hospital."

Blair waved as Sue left her room to get to school. "Bye." She was not in the mood for eating so she fell onto her pillows and snuggled in for the day.

* * *

When Blair woke up a few hours later it was because her phone was ringing. "Hello?" she groaned upon answering.

"Where are you?" Kurt answered in reply. "Mr Schue has lost his mind. He's recruited some ancient alcoholic woman to be part of the Glee Club to replace Rachel. We need you and your bluntness here STAT!"

Blair only caught half of that. "I'm sick – Chickenpox. Won't be going to school until it's over."

"Oh, wow, I thought everyone got that when they were kids." Kurt started to sound concerned. "And you're there alone? I saw Sue in the hall earlier."

"I've survived worse," Blair muttered, wanting to just go back to sleep. "Good luck with the ancient lady." On that note, she hung up the phone and went back to sleep.

* * *

Two weeks later, after many visits from members of the Glee Club when Sue wasn't home, Blair was given the clearance to go back to school. Unfortunately she was out for too long and Mr Schue didn't think she should participate in the Invitationals performance that evening. Blair was bummed beyond words but accepted it. Even if she did know the lyrics, she didn't want to bring anyone down by screwing up the footwork.

So, instead of being on stage with the rest of the club that night, Blair sat in the audience and waited with everyone else. Blair looked at her watch to find the performance was almost ten minutes late. This made her worry, so she went to see if she could find out anything. Blair found everyone in the choir room. "What's going on? Everyone's pretty antsy out there."

"April is puking her guts out. Something about one too many mimosas with expired orange juice," Mercedes answered. "She was supposed to be the lead and now we've got nobody. Mr Schue only taught it to her."

Puck spoke right up. "Blair, you should do it. You know all the words."

"And none of the choreography," Blair pointed out. "I'd ruin it up there."

"Not if we did the song we were originally going to do before April came into the picture," Mr Schue countered as he walked into the room. "If we do that one instead of 'Last Name' you should have no problem."

"None of us are dressed for that one, Mr Schue," Quinn pointed out, referring to all their Western themed costumes.

"Everyone quickly change your shirts into whatever you wore when you got here. If we're doing this then we better do it fast." Mr Schue looked at Blair. "You up for this?"

Blair didn't feel like she had much of a choice, but that didn't change the fact she was so excited about it. "Okay, yeah. Let's do this."

A few minutes later, Mr Schue went on stage to apologize for the wait and explained that their lead singer had gotten sick and they had to change the arrangement. With all that said, and an additional apology later, Mr Schue introduced the New Directions.

The curtains opened and Blair stood in front of the rest of the group with Puck not too far away from her. The music began and they all started the choreography before Blair started singing the opening lyrics to 'Best Song Ever'. _"Maybe it's the way he walked. Straight into my heart and stole it!"_ Blair and Puck started making their way towards each other as she continued to sing her part then broke out into the familiar dance routine.

After the chorus, Blair sang her tweaked lyrics. " _Said his name was Noah Puck. And he was in New Directions. Said he had a dirty mouth."_

" _Yeah, I got a dirty mouth,"_ Puck sang back as he slid up close to her.

" _But I kissed him like I meant it!"_ Blair gave him a quick peck on the cheek with a lyrical, " _Ha!"_ before continuing on.

When the song came to its end, Blair stood there catching her breath and looking at Puck with laughter as the crowd rose to their feet and cheered. The New Directions received a standing ovation!

The Glee Club ran off the stage to get ready for the next act. As they made the changes to their costumes, none of them stopped talking about how awesome that was. Well, all except for Liam. He didn't say a word and just focused on the costume change.

Santana looked around the group asking, "Uh, has anyone figured out who's singing second lead in the next act? Blair may know the lyrics but doesn't know the choreography."

"We'll just have to help her out with that." Finn nudged his friend with a grin.

"I have complete faith in you guys," Mr Schue proudly interjected. "You guys were amazing."

At that moment, Rachel walked into the room. "Congratulations, everyone. I wanted to tell you all that I quit the play. I guess you could say I got hit with a reality check and realized being in the play didn't mean more to me than being your friend. And – And I would like to come back to Glee, but I don't expect to be the star. I just hope to be one of the stars in the constellation." Rachel looked at Blair before saying to the group, "It kinda boggles me a bit that you all were so worried about me coming back and being the star when you already had one that shined just as bright as I did."

Blair went over to Rachel and hugged her without a word. She didn't intend on saying anything either. When things really hit her hard – the good and the bad – that's when she didn't say a word.

Rachel hugged her back and smiled. As they pulled apart, she asked the group, "Does this mean I'm back in?"

No one objected, so Mr Schue said, "Absolutely. If you know the lyrics you're welcome to get changed and perform with us."

"Oh, great," Santana scoffed. "Now we got two people who don't know the choreography."

"Don't worry," Finn said to the group. "We got this."

Indeed they did, with the subtle cues given to Blair and Rachel on stage as they sang 'Somebody to Love' they were able to get the gist of the choreography and stood off to the side with an arm in the air while the others did the more elaborate steps. At the end of Mercedes' epic finale, once again the crowd was brought to their feet and cheered. Another standing ovation for the New Directions!

Blair honestly couldn't believe they pulled it off, but hey, maybe something resembling a happily ever after can happen after all…

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 5


	6. Epic disaster

Liam had been tuning out of most of the stuff during Glee Club that wasn't performance related. However, he started tuning in when he heard them talking about Quinn – About Quinn being pregnant – About Quinn being pregnant with Finn's baby. He wasn't going to jump into the gossip mill but that didn't mean he wasn't going to find out whether or not it was true.

This brought Liam to waiting for his sister outside of her class later that day. When she finally emerged, he guided her aside, asking in a hushed tone. "Is it true?"

Quinn laughed at his question. "You're gonna need to be a little more specific there, Liam."

The last thing he wanted to do was ask this where people could hear in case it was wrong, so he pulled Quinn into an empty classroom. Once the door was closed, he came right out with it. "Are you freaking pregnant?"

Quinn took in a sharp intake of air. "Who told you?"

"Who told me?" Liam couldn't believe that was the first thing she had to say about this. "All of Glee is talking about it so it's only a matter of time before the entire school is!" He rubbed his face hard. "Finn did this to you?"

"Finn didn't _do_ anything to me," Quinn defended, but when Liam shot back with, "So he's not the father?", she stayed quiet.

Quinn not saying anything at all was the same as her admitting that he was, at least for Liam. This made him fume beyond words.

Quinn recognized this look on Liam's face before and it made her worry. "Liam, what are you going to do?" He stormed out of the classroom and didn't answer. "Liam!" She quickly went after him.

Liam stormed down the hall and found Finn at his locker.

Finn smiled when Liam approached. "Hey, man, we still helping Blair with…" He didn't get a chance to finish his question because Liam punched him right in the jaw.

"Liam!" Quinn shouted and ran right to Finn, keeping him back from Liam.

Liam was about to ream into Finn again but stopped when Blair seemed to appear in front of him out of thin air.

Blair put his hands on Liam's chest to keep him back. "Walk away, Liam."

"This doesn't concern you, Blair," Liam seethed, still fully intending on beating the crap out of Finn.

"Think of it as repayment for all the times you pulled me out of fights." Blair had no idea what was going on but this wasn't like Liam. At least not the Liam she'd gotten to know. She pushed Liam back, saying to Quinn, "Make sure he sees the nurse or something," as they went.

Blair didn't stop pushing him until they were far enough away. "What the hell was that about?"

"Like you don't know!" Liam shouted back. He didn't believe she didn't know for a second. "Finn tells you everything!"

Blair rubbed her temples because she still had no clue. "Liam, you just pulled a me back there but in order for it to be fully authentic there needs to be a reason. What the hell happened?!"

Liam was pacing back and forth in their empty end of the hallway but stopped when he saw just how out of the loop she was in this. "You don't know that Finn got my sister pregnant? The entire club is talking about it."

Blair's eyes went wide. " _What_?! No, Liam, I had no clue. I don't pay attention to gossip, it literally doesn't even register with me. Holy crap, Quinn is pregnant?" She crossed her arms and asked a bit too bluntly, "And you're sure Finn's the father?"

Liam did not appreciate that question. "Are you calling my sister a slut?"

Blair held up a defensive hand. "No, I did not say that. You're the only who pointed out that Finn tells me everything and he _never_ told me anything about having sex with Quinn."

Liam threw out a hand and scoffed. "You guys tell each other that stuff? Are you seriously telling me that you'd call Finn after screwing Puck?"

Blair crossed her arms with a hardened expression upon her face. "A) Puck and I aren't having sex – not that it's any of your business, and B) Yeah, Finn would be the first person I'd tell about it. Second would probably be Kurt, not that that matters."

Liam stepped closer to her, saying firmly, "My sister doesn't sleep around. If she says Finn's the father then Finn's the father." He walked away from her before he said or did something he might regret in his anger.

A heavy sigh escaped Blair before she rubbed her face with a groan. She did not want to deal with any of this right now, so she mentally swept it all aside and went to class.

* * *

After Liam found out about Quinn's pregnancy he refused to even get near Finn in rehearsal. So between that and the club getting complacent, rehearsal was weird and blah. Blair wasn't even getting into it and the music used to be her escape. Lately it just wasn't doing the trick.

Puck caught up with Blair after the latest rehearsal and draped his arm across her shoulders. "Hey, beautiful. What's up with Liam? He's not normally the broody type."

"He found out that Quinn was pregnant," Blair answered with a sigh.

"Just?" Puck laughed. "Everyone's been talking about it for awhile now."

"Guess he's like me when it comes to gossip – In one ear and out the other with no processing in between." Blair shrugged a bit and stopped at her locker to exchange books for the next class.

Puck leaned against the lockers with crossed arms. "What are you lunch plans now? Don't you usually eat with Finn and Liam?"

Blair hadn't thought of that. "Guess I'll be eating solo for awhile."

"Or you could, oh I don't know, eat with your handsome boyfriend?" Puck smirked at her as he said it.

Blair couldn't resist the moment to tease. "Aww I didn't realize you wanted to spend every second of your free time with me. That's so sweet." She pinched his cheek before kissing his lips.

"Funny," he said to her sarcastically when their lips parted.

"I know." Blair grinned and closed her locker. "The Auditorium is empty today at lunch so I'll hang out there and rehearse a song I've been working on."

This intrigued Puck a little bit. "Something other than Glee assignments?"

"Yep." Blair had no shame in admitting that. "Glee isn't cutting it anymore in the getting me out of my head department so I'm expressing my emotions elsewhere." Before parting for class, she added in, "If you're interested in joining me bring your guitar." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before darting off to class seconds before the late bell rang.

* * *

Blair didn't make it to the Auditorium at lunch because Sue cornered her and made it clear it was expected they eat lunch together, so that's what they did. Before sitting next to Sue on the bleachers at the football field, Blair sent Puck a text saying there was a change of plans.

"No phones during meals," Sue scolded.

"The rule is no phones during supper," Blair countered, but put it into her bag anyway. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Sue answered nonchalantly. "Can't a guardian and their ward have a nice meal together without there being an ulterior motive?"

Blair blinked a few times before answering. "With any other guardian and ward, sure, but us? That's funny."

Sue had to give her that one. "You make a good point."

Blair rolled her hands for Sue to get a move on. "Well…what is this about?"

Sue reached into her pocket and handed Blair a prescription bottle. "You haven't been taking your medicine. You could have at least put in the effort of making it look like you have been by flushing a pill a day down the toilet. Not even bothering to open the bottle? That's just lazy."

Blair didn't take the bottle away from Sue. "I don't like how they make me feel. I feel numb on them and hey, I've been fine without them."

"Your doctor said it would take time to find the right dosage." Sue was trying her best to not completely lose it on her about how important this was.

"You mean the same doctor whose profession is made up entirely of, and I quote you, 'Whacko Quacks'?" Blair raised her brow in a 'seriously' manner.

"This is different and you know it." Sue took Blair's hand and put the pill bottle right into it. "If you do not start taking your meds then no Glee club."

Blair scoffed incredulously. "You can't do that, Sue."

"Oh, yes I can." Sue stood up because she was almost done with this conversation. "I am going to make sure you take them every day and I will attend every session with you where the dosage is concerned. What happened before is not going to happen again. Not on my watch." She placed a pair of sunglasses over her eyes and walked away.

Blair scoffed again because she couldn't believe this was happening and yet it was. "Dammit," she seethed before taking the pill with a gulp of soda. Now this really wasn't going to be a good day.

* * *

At the next Glee rehearsal, Blair was out of it. She couldn't even get excited about the fact that Mr Schue was giving them a competition – Boys vs Girls to create a mashup of their choice, and whichever team wins gets to choose the number they do for Sectionals.

When Blair heard this she just mimicked the others in their expressions but didn't really feel what she was expressing. She didn't really feel anything. Mr Schue noticed this and asked her to stay after.

"Blair, uhm, don't take this the wrong way but are you stoned?" That was the only thing Mr Schue could think of to explain the change in her.

"If I was stoned I'd be feeling something." Blair pointed towards the door. "Can I go?"

Mr Schue wasn't going to let her leave until he got to the bottom of this. "Not yet. Blair, what's going on with you?"

Blair went into her bag and took out her pill bottle. "Sue made her start taking these again. Said I wouldn't be allowed in Glee if I didn't."

Mr Schue looked at the list of side effects with wide eyes. "Wow. Uhm, is your doctor sure this is the right stuff for you?"

Blair took the bottle back with a shrug and left the choir room without asking for permission this time.

Mr Schue wasn't sure if it was his place to say anything to Sue about what was going on, but he was going to do it anyway. He grabbed his satchel and went straight to Sue's office.

Sue looked up from her notebook and saw Mr Schue standing in her doorway. "Hello, William. What can I do for you?"

Mr Schue walked into her office and closed the door behind him. "I'm concerned about Blair. She – she's not herself. She's like a walking shell of herself and I think it has to do with the meds she's on."

Sue _really_ wanted to be mad at Mr Schue for butting his nose in where it didn't belong, but she couldn't do that. Not when it came to this, anyway. "I know. Her doctors say this is what she needs to be on to keep what happened before from happening again but she's not herself when she takes them. I hate admitting this, but I do not know what to do."

Mr Schue took a seat in the empty chair in front of her desk. "Have you tried getting a second opinion? Or maybe tried something more homeopathic?"

"I've gotten second and third opinions. They all agree it's the correct medication and just need to find the right dosage." Sue shook her head and looked away.

Mr Schue scooted forward in his seat a little. "As long as Blair's been in Glee club, I haven't seen her like this. So I'm guessing she hasn't been on the medication for awhile now. Maybe she doesn't need it as much as the doctors think she does? I mean, she's doing great. She's got friends, Glee Club, a boyfriend."

Sue held up her hand to keep him from going any further. "I'm going to stop you right there, William. You didn't find Blair the way I did. You didn't see what I saw. I am not going to ignore the fact that she has problems."

"I'm not saying you should. I'm just saying maybe it needs to be addressed differently." Mr Schue was honestly surprised that Sue was actually talking to him about this, but it was clear that despite how insane Sue was that she really cared about Blair.

"I will take this conversation into consideration but we are never to speak of this again." Sue returned to her notebook and waved her hand to the door. "You can leave now."

Mr Schue wasn't going to push his luck so he left without another word.

* * *

At dinner that night, Sue noticed how Blair just pushed the food around on her plate like a zombie. "That's it." She got to her feet and went into Blair's backpack.

"What are you doing?" Blair wasn't even mad that Sue was going through her stuff, she just wanted to know.

Sue found the pill bottle and went to the sink to dump them, which she did. "I am not going to sit by and watch these destroy you. We will find something else to try, but it is not going to be this."

Blair got up from her seat and went over to Sue. "Thank you."

Sue just nodded her hear, indicating that she'd been heard. "You're welcome."

* * *

After a couple days of feeling sick to her stomach and such because of cutting the pills cold turkey, Blair was starting to feel like herself again and couldn't wait to do the mash-up competition. She was also thinking about the new doc Sue wanted her to see. It was some guy in the next town over but his mission statement or whatever was different than the local ones so perhaps he could actually help her. It was worth a shot and if it meant she didn't have to take those pills anymore then Blair was all for it. Anyway, Blair didn't think about that at the moment and just focused on the competition. Unfortunately, none of the other girls were as interested. Well, none but Rachel.

Blair couldn't believe it when Mercedes said to wing it. "We can't wing it! I'm with Rachel on this one. We have to come up with something and kick the boys asses!"

Santana pointed at her saying, "Weren't you all like 'okay, whatever' the other day about all this?"

Blair crossed her arms. "I was on my meds at the time, that doesn't count."

"You were _on_ your meds?" Rachel was surprised to hear that. "I thought that was you _off_ your meds."

"Yeah…no." Blair didn't want to talk about it anymore so she clapped her hands together. "So are we going to do this or what?" It turned out to be or what. All they voted on was the mashup of 'Walking on Sunshine' and 'Halo' but other than that, the majority wanted to wing it. So that was apparently the plan.

* * *

They really needed to rethink their plan because when the guys performed their mashup a few days later of 'It's My Life' and 'Confessions' they _killed_ it. Blair sat with the rest of the girls and looked on in awe. It was really good and hell, she'd have voted for them if she could. Well, that was her thought for one second then her competitive side kicked in. She leaned over and whispered to Rachel, "So…are we still winging it or what?"

Rachel shook her head with a jaw-drop because she, too, was in awe of the performance and wanted to beat the boys even more than before.

At the end of the performance Blair had to cheer and clap because it was just that good. At the 'excuse me' expressions she got from the rest of the girls because of it, she said, "Competition or not, they deserve the applause. Besides, it gives me a gauge of how well ours needs to be so we can beat them."

"Good luck with that, ladies," Puck called over to them with laughter.

"Don't need luck," Blair countered with. "We've got more talent than you."

Even Liam got into it, saying, "We'll see about that."

"Oh, you will." Blair walked by them as she waved her hand in a shooing motion before leaving the room to get to class.

* * *

Blair sat across her new shrink later that day and drummed on the arm of the chair. Her session was supposed to be for an hour but already they've gone through half of that in complete silence. Other than him introducing himself as 'Mr Jones, but please call me Doc' he said nothing to her. It was really weird and finally Blair had to break the silence. "Are you going to say anything or what?"

"I've been waiting for you," Doc answered as he picked up his clipboard. "You've broken the record, by the way. No other patient of mine has sat in silence for this long. They usually crack about ten minutes in."

"Well, I'm not like most people." Blair sounded pretty smug about that. "So you start out all your sessions trying to crack your patients instead of getting to know them?"

Doc made a note as he answered. "It gives me a sense of the kind of person you are. The whole time you've been sitting there not only have you analyzed me but the room. You've taken in every detail and can be quite patient, depending on the circumstances. In spite of this patience you get frustrated and angry and I would bet you lash out physically to other people and yourself." He looked away from his notes to ask her, "How am I doing so far?"

Blair crossed her sleeve covered arms. "I bet you got all that from my other doctors."

"Nope," Doc corrected. "I never read the reports of transfer patients until after I meet with them. I don't want my judgement to be clouded by another person's perspective. I prefer to formulate my own first. I did however read the medication you were prescribed and personally I wouldn't have recommended it."

This caught Blair's attention. "Why?"

"Well, for one thing it doesn't have the best track record in teenagers. I bet you felt like a zombie when you were on it. This is catered more toward adults whose brains have fully developed, but not all in my field would agree me with." Doc set his clipboard aside. "I try not to prescribe medication unless it's deemed absolutely necessary. I believe in trying other things first – lifestyle changes, diet, support systems, non-medicinal things that can help naturally produce what your body lacks. If you are willing to try this first then we'll get started on that route, but if you would rather to get straight to the medication we can try that, too."

"No meds, please." Blair was quick to answer that. "I'm all for drinking kale smoothies or whatever else instead of experimenting with medication."

Doc nodded his head. "Alright. Well, then, let's get started. When did these feelings first begin?"

Blair took a deep breath and started from the beginning – how things didn't get bad until her parents died, and went on from there until two hours later she had told him everything. There was no point in holding anything back because it wouldn't have helped anything.

When Blair realized what time it was, her eyes went wide. "Don't you have like other patients or something? I was only supposed to be in here for an hour."

"Nope," Doc once again corrected. "I always allot three hours for new patients." When he smiled lines appeared upon his elderly face that just seemed to make him wiser. "I've been doing this a long time. Learning tricks of the trade comes with the territory."

Blair narrowed her eyes at him a little bit. "I'm not sure if you're evil or brilliant."

Doc stood up and walked with Blair to the door since their session was over. "Both. Both is good." He handed Blair a few sheets of paper. "Here is a guideline of things to try do and try to avoid. Keep a journal to document what you've done and we'll discuss this at your next session."

Blair accepted the papers and gave him a bit of a salute. "Later, Doc." She walked down the hall to the waiting room where Sue sat. "I'm alive!" she exclaimed like Dr Frankenstein said 'it's alive!'.

Sue stood up and instantly wanted to know. "Well? Is he more of a quack than the others?"

Blair nodded affirmative. "Yes, but in a good way. Let's go home and I'll tell you all about it."

* * *

That night, Blair laid in the back of Puck's truck with him and looked up at the sky. "What are you thinking about?" he asked her. "You've hardly said two words to me all night."

"Trying to come up with a way to kick your butt at the mash-up." Blair moved to look at Puck with a grin before returning her head to his torso that she was using as a pillow.

"You should go to the school nurse and get some of that Vitamin D-whatever stuff. It worked wonders on us." Puck winced as soon as Blair shot up into a sitting position and glared at him. "And I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"You _took_ something?!" Blair scoffed incredulously and hopped out of the truck. "How could you be so stupid! Drugs?!"

Puck thought she was overreacting just a little bit. "We got them from the school nurse. I'd _hardly_ call them drugs." He got out of the truck bed to stand by her. "Why are you flipping out about this?"

Blair crossed her arms and looked away before answering. "I had a friend who was an addict. He didn't care who he hurt as long as he got what he wanted and in the end it almost killed him."

Now it was Pucks turn to scoff incredulously. "I'm not an addict, Blair."

"And yet you took something." Blair shook her head and started walking away.

Puck still thought she was making too big a deal about this. "Where are you going?"

"Home!" Blair shouted back then started running. She needed some time and space to process what Puck just told her. All the guys took something to make them perform better. They all wanted to cut corners instead of actually putting in the work. They took a shortcut that could open a door into something worse and Blair was not dealing with this information well.

As soon as Blair was far enough away from the parking lot, she stopped and pulled out her cellphone. "Rachel? Yeah, it's me. I know what made the guys' set pop…"

* * *

Blair thought at the rehearsal for their own mash-up the next day that they were going to tell Mr Schue about the boys taking something but that is so not what happened. Instead of that happening, all the girls except for Blair wanted to go to the nurse to get what the boys were given.

Upon hearing this, Blair felt like her head was going to explode. "You _can't_ be serious." She looked at all the serious faces and stopped at Rachel who didn't even want to meet her eyes. "Rachel, come on."

"I'm not going to be humiliated again." Rachel straightened her posture confidently. "I am willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead."

"So you'd rather cheat and ruin your integrity and risk the possibility of getting hooked on what I'm sure the nurse is illegally handing out just to win a little contest?" Blair was hoping to have gotten through to someone, but she didn't. "Wow…you can count me out then. I want _nothing_ to do with this."

"You're not even going to perform with us?" Rachel wasn't expecting that.

"If you're going to take drugs to do it, then no I'm not." Blair felt ashamed for the entire Glee club and walked out of the girl's rehearsal without another word.

Out in the hall, she spotted Puck and tried to go in the opposite direction but he caught up with her.

"Blair, hold up." Puck got in front of her to block her path. "You can't seriously still be pissed at me."

"I can't?" Blair shot back.

Puck sighed. "Come on, Han. I'll never do anything like that again. Okay? I promise and if I ever break that promise you have full permission to punch me black and blue." He stepped forward with that crooked smirk of his. "Do you forgive me?"

Blair really wanted to stay pissed at him, and she still was but she didn't want to be angry all the time so she was going to try a different approach. "I'm inching towards forgiving you."

"I'll take that." Puck kissed Blair gently before taking her hand. "Come on, I'll walk you to class."

* * *

The girl's performance was after lunch in the choir room the following day, but Blair wanted to talk to Mr Schue before then so she got there earlier than needed. When he walked into the room, she spoke before he had a chance to even greet her. "I wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be performing with the girls today. But I would like to perform for you a mash-up I created, not for the competition but just because. I'll explain why I'm not performing with the girls after everything. That's it."

Mr Schue wanted to ask Blair what that was all about but didn't get a chance because the entirety of the Glee club filed into the room – the boys to take seats and the girl- all but Blair – to their spots on the risers for the performance. Once Ms Pillbury, the judge for the competition, for seated Rachel spoke a mile a minute about how their song choice represented the world as a whole because everyone needs light, sunshine, and angels – Or something like that. Blair could hardly make a word out because she was talking so quickly.

Liam leaned over to whisper to Blair who was sitting next to him, "Why aren't you performing with them?"

Blair sat up straighter, saying, "I'll explain it later."

The girls started their performance. Their mashup was of 'Walking On Sunshine' and 'Halo'. Their dancing was fast and upbeat and if their smiles were any bigger then they'd probably have broken their jaw bones. Blair shook her head at this display but kept her mouth shut. She'd tell Mr Schue when it was time.

At the end of Rachel's _very_ high note, the set ended and Mr Schue was ecstatic. Blair would have had a spit-take moment if she was drinking something when Mr Schue told them to do whatever it was they did to perform like that. "Wow…" she said to herself.

"Blair has asked to perform a mashup of her own. Now this isn't for the competition, so enjoy." Mr Schue returned to his seat next to Emma as Blair set a stool on the riser and indicated for the band to start playing her mashup of 'Castle on the Hill' and 'Don't Stop Believing'.

Mr Schue could see the emotion radiating off Blair with every lyric she sang. Now _this_ was the Blair he'd come to know since she joined Glee club. This Blair had feeling and didn't shy away from expressing it. Clearly she'd found something to help her better and he felt so glad for her.

At the end of the song, everyone clapped. Kurt even got to his feet, saying, "That was beautiful, jerk."

Blair smiled. "Thanks, loser." She was about to ask to speak to Mr Schue alone but the bell rang so they all had to get to class. Blair went over to him before he left though. "Mr Schue, I need to tell you something."

"Can it wait?" Mr Schue asked hopefully. "It's not good for a teacher to show up late to class and all."

Blair nodded, "Sure," and she _almost_ left it at that but stopped herself. "Actually, you know what, no."

Mr Schue wasn't expecting that. "What?"

Blair looked around to make sure they were alone before speaking. "What I have to tell you is important and you're not leaving here until you hear it."

Okay, now Mr Schue was worrying a little bit and started taking her seriously. "Okay, Blair. What is it?"

Now that Blair had his attention she told him everything that she knew, consequences be damned.

* * *

Blair was on her way to the next Glee rehearsal when Sue walked up to her and gave her a one armed hug. "Uh…hi…"

"Hi, sweets. Gosh, I can't express how excited I am for today." Sue's smile was beaming but sarcastically so.

Blair was starting to get a really weird vibe from Sue, even more than normal. "Uh…why?"

"You haven't heard?" Sue stopped walking with her. "I'm the new co-director of Glee club since after the whole enhancement drug debacle, William isn't deemed capable of running the show alone anymore." She snapped her fingers and pointed at Blair with a click. "See you in there."

Blair was too stunned to move. Sue was going to be a part of Glee club now? This was either going to be epic or a disaster. "It's gonna be an epic disaster." With that frame of mind, she took a deep preparatory breath and walked into rehearsal.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 6


	7. Anywhere

"So how long do you think it'll be before Sue and Mr Schue try to strangle each other?" That was the first thing Puck said to Blair at school that morning.

"Hello to you, too," Blair replied as she got into her locker. "They've been playing sort of nice so far for the past week so any day now."

"Whose side are you taking anyway?" Puck was curious where Blair's loyalties were placed.

"I'm loyal to both of them, Puck. It'll be the circumstances that are the deciding factor." Blair swapped out some books then looked at him with a raised brow. "Why? Are you planning something?"

"Now what makes you think I'm planning something?" Puck gave her his signature half smirk.

"Because you're always planning something," she laughed in reply.

"Not this time. At least not in Glee club." Puck walked up behind Blair and wrapped his arms around her. "I do have plans for something for us though."

Blair turned around in his embrace and draped her arms over his shoulders. "If you're planning what I think you're planning then the answer is still no, Puck. I'm not ready for that."

Puck groaned because they'd been dating for awhile now but still haven't slept together. He removed his arms from around her. "What's the problem, Han? You not trust me or something?"

"It's not that. I'm just not ready. And if you have a problem with that then we need to end this." Blair wanted to take the next step with Puck, she really did, but something was holding her back. There was a feeling in her gut about it that she just couldn't shake – a feeling that she would regret it if she slept with him.

Ending things with Blair was the last thing he wanted to do – which was a big reason why he didn't tell her the truth about being the father of Quinn's baby. "You can't get rid of me that easily. I'll try to be more patient."

"Thank you." Blair gave him a kiss on the cheek and when she pulled back, she spotted Liam down the hall. "We'll talk later." She darted down the hall to Liam at his locker. Blair tapped one shoulder and walked around to the other, grinning when he did the whole looking where he was tapped and not seeing anyone there thing.

Liam quickly realized he'd fallen for the oldest trick in the book. "Funny."

"I thought so." Blair leaned back against the row of lockers. "Where were you yesterday? Did you forget it was your lunch day in the whole 'lunch time custody' arrangement?"

"Yeah, sorry. I wanted to talk to Quinn after her doctor's appointment." Liam made sure to speak quietly so the others around them couldn't hear.

Blair spoke in the same hushed tones and waited for someone to pass before answering. "She doing okay?"

Liam nodded. "Yeah. They both are. It's a girl."

Blair could tell that Liam didn't really want to talk about this but there was something she wanted to ask. "Have you forgiven Finn yet?"

Liam let out a deep exhale. "I'm working on it. Quinn keeps pestering me to forgive him too, so you're not the only ones who wants us to be friends again."

"Or at least be civil enough to eat lunch together and actually look at each other in Glee club." Blair shrugged. "Baby steps." She cringed at her choice of words. "I didn't mean to say it like that."

"I got the gist." They still had another minute before class so he used it to ask her something. "How are things with you and Puck?"

"Fine. It's still mind boggling that we're dating. Still not quite sure how it happened." Blair laughed because she really hated Puck before and then it changed. Her expression dropped a bit because she realized she had a tendency of falling for guys she 'hated' until she didn't.

Liam noticed this change in her. "Everything alright?"

Blair snapped out of it and brushed it off. "I just had an epiphany. No big deal."

Liam was about to ask her what it was about but the bell rang before he had a chance to and then Blair disappeared down the hall to get to class.

* * *

Later that day in the choir room before Glee started, Blair and Mike were doing the Foxtrot just for the fun of it. Blair hadn't danced outside of the routines for Glee club in so long that she'd really enjoyed this. At the end of it, both she and Mike laughed.

"Where did you learn that?" Mike had been taking dance classes of various forms for as long as he could remember and hadn't come across many who knew the Foxtrot.

"Dance, music, and gymnastics were a _big_ thing in my family growing up." Blair playfully curtsied to him. "Thank you for the dance, kind sir."

Make in turn bowed with a flourish. "The pleasure was mine, madame."

"Get your own girlfriend," Puck called from his seat on the risers. "She's unavailable."

"Someone's jealous," Kurt said to Blair as she sat in the seat beside him.

"I'm a date one person at a time kind of person. _Unless_ there's three of us dating each other. But that's the only exception." Blair said that like it was a perfectly normal thing to say, because for it was.

Puck's attention perked up when she said that. "Hold on, you're into three-ways? How did I not know this?"

"There's a difference between a three-way hookup and having a polyamorous relationship," Santana chimed in and at the looks she was being given she said, "What? It's not like _I'm_ the one speaking from experience."

This conversation was cut short because Sue and Mr Schue walked into the room. They did a coin toss to see who would get to direct first and Sue won. Blair kept quiet about the fact that it was a double-headed trick coin. Some things just weren't the bother and this, she felt, was one of them.

Sue proceeded to announce she had a list of those she wanted as part of her 'elite' Glee club, but before she could list any of them off Mr Schue said she wasn't allowed to do that because they wouldn't be able to compete in Sectionals since it was against the rules. "Oh, but I can," Sue answered then turned to Blair. "Blair?"

Blair pulled the Show Choir rule book out of her bag and went over to Mr Schue. "I don't know what this is about," she said to him quietly, "but I'm pretty sure she had me bring this over for dramatic effect."

Sue heard that and narrowed her eyes at Blair who simply smiled back to her in reply. "As you can see there, William, while twelve members must perform for each team not all twelve members must perform each song." She smiled proudly since she was going to get her way.

Mr Schue saw it there in black and white so there wasn't anything he could do about it. With a scoff he took a seat next to the piano and waved his hand. "Fine. Go ahead and take all the football players and your Cheerios."

Sue put on her reading glasses and turned to the group. "Alright, everybody, listen up. When you hear your name called, cross over to my side of this black shiny thing." The 'black shiny thing' being the grand piano. She ignored Mr Schue when he pointed that out to her and proceeded to read from her list. "Santana, Wheels, Gay Kid, Asian, Other Asian, My Asian, Aretha, and Shaft."

Blair couldn't help but let out a single loud laugh at the end of Sue's list. It was utterly and completely horrible and yet Blair found it utterly and completely hilarious. She got up with those who'd been called and went to stand with them, all the while thinking Sue was up to something.

With Sue's group assembled behind her, she turned to Mr Schue. "See, Will, I don't want to participate in a group that ignores the needs of minority students."

Mr Shue got right up to his feet and leaned over the piano to say to her quietly, yet heatedly, "You have got to be kidding me."

Sue shook her head. "I wouldn't kid about this, Will, and maybe that's your problem. Bigotry is no laughing matter."

Santana smiled as she interjected with, "And that's how Sue," she held up her hand shaped like the letter 'C', "sees it."

Sue looked back at Santana with such pride upon hearing that. "Outstanding." She then pointed at Blair. "You could learn something from her."

Blair dropped her face her hand and shook her head, thinking aloud, "This is going to be a _long_ rehearsal."

* * *

That night Blair was cooking supper when Sue came into the kitchen and held a key attached to a purple rabbit's foot in front of her face. Blair reached up and cautiously took it from her. "Uh…thanks?"

Sue laughed at her reaction. "It's a housekey. You've earned my trust. Now what are you cooking?"

Blair looked at her with wide eyes. "I seriously don't have to wait around for you anymore and I can come home when I want to?"

"Yep." Sue picked a vegetable out of the stir fry Blair was working on and popped it into her mouth. "As long as you don't bring over that Nuck boy you're dating."

"It's Puck," Blair corrected as she slipped the keychain into her pocket. "And no worries there – he's too afraid of bumping into you here to come over."

Sue felt pretty good about that. "Good. It means I'm doing my job right."

Blair laughed with a shake to her head and put the finishing touches on her creation. When she reached out for the spice on the counter it revealed the bandage on her wrist.

Sue caught that instantly and went right over to her. "What did you do?" Her face and eyes were riddled with worry.

"It's not what you think, Sue." Blair pulled the bandage back to reveal the burn. "I was on the phone when I took the rolls out of the over and dinged my wrist on the pan since I was using a pot holder. It was an accident and I'm fine. I don't even think it'll scar."

Sue let out a breath she didn't even realize she'd been holding. "Use the oven mitts next time instead of a pot holder."

Blair returned the bandage to its place and saluted Sue. "Aye, aye captain." She sprinkled in the spice, sautéed for another minute, then brought it to the table. "So…" Blair sat down across from Sue. "What's your ulterior motive in the Glee club?"

"Now what makes you think I have an ulterior motive?" Sue served herself some of the stir-fry.

"Because you always have an ulterior motive," Blair answered then added in, "And I feel like we've had this conversation before."

"We have," Sue concurred. "So I will tell you now what I told you then – Not everything I do has an ulterior motive."

Blair popped her lips before raising her water glass in cheers. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Sue didn't say anything in reply and clinked her glass with Blair's.

* * *

At the next Glee rehearsal, it wasn't with the whole group but just those Sue chose. Sue picked the song 'Hate on Me' for them to perform. It went over quite well with all of them. Mercedes had the solo, those who wanted to dance freely could have, and they came up with a routine on the spot. Everything flowed so well and Blair, along with the others, had a lot of fun performing it. In fact, it went a lot better than Blair thought it would have. As enjoyable as this all was, Blair still thought Sue was up to something.

After the rehearsal, Blair went up to Sue. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"You can, but that doesn't mean I do it," Sue replied as she neatened up the stack of her sheet music.

"Whatever you're scheming…don't do it." Blair really hoped Sue was listening and really listening. "Glee club is important to me, Sue. Please don't do anything to mess it up."

Sue looked at her and answered defensively, "Do you really think so little of me?"

That wasn't the case. "No, but I do know how single-sighted you can be. When you want something you go after it will full force and don't always consider what the consequences might be. I actually think that's something we have in common." Blair looked at her pleadingly. "Look, I don't know what you're planning and I clearly can't stop you, just… _think_ about how it's going to affect everyone else before you do it. Please?"

Sue didn't answer her one way or the other and only said, "You're going to be late for class."

Blair didn't expect Sue to agree so she wasn't surprised by her response. "Later, Sue."

* * *

It seems Sue wasn't going to give Blair the one thing she asked for because not only did she steal Puck and Brittany from Mr Schue's team, but she also had a big blow up with Mr Schue – during which she called Glee club stupid and something no one cared about.

They were in the Auditorium when this happened and as soon as Blair heard what Sue really thought about Glee club, she left. Everyone was so focused on the fight that no one noticed her leave. Well, almost no one.

Liam was on stage when he saw Blair leave and went after her, leaving Sue and Mr Schue to argue while the other Glee clubbers listened. Since Blair had a head start, it took him a minute to find her but he did. She was sitting on the stairs outside where they ate their lunch. "You're predictable with your hiding spots, you know that right?"

"I didn't expect anyone to follow, so I didn't put much effort into it." Blair wiped her eyes and didn't look at him.

Liam sat on the step beside her. "You want to talk about it?"

"I understand Sue, I do. I understand her and I accept her but it still hurts that she actively tries to destroy something that I love. My shrink thinks she's doing it to give me a villain to focus on so I don't focus how I feel onto myself." Blair scoffed because a part of her thought Doc was right about that. "Who knows, maybe she is but I wish she wouldn't. I _need_ this in my life. I need this outlet. I need my friends and she doesn't give a damn."

Liam wrapped his arm around Blair to hug her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "No matter what happens to Glee club you will always have your friends. And as far as your outlet goes, you can sing and dance anywhere."

"Anywhere?" Blair laughed as she wiped some more tears from her eyes.

"Anywhere." Liam stood up and held his hand out to her. "Like right here on these stairs for example."

Blair looked at him like he was nuts. "Not happening."

"So happening." He started humming the intro to 'Shake it Off' – but not the Taylor Swift version, it was the Supernatural Parody version – before singing the first couple verses as he danced on the stairs.

Blair laughed at how much he got into it and couldn't stop herself from getting to her feet to sing and dance along with him. She knew this parody version as well as the real one.

At one point they ran down the stairs to the picnic tables and jumped on them to continue with their singing and dancing that consisted of a lot of shaking, shimmying, and twists.

At the end of the song, they sat on the bench and laughed. "See?" Liam said with a wave of his hand. "Anywhere."

All Blair could do was smile because he was right. As weird as it was to just randomly burst out in song and dance, he was right.

* * *

Blair went home one minute before her curfew was up and found Sue waiting for her in the living room. "I'm going to bed." She still wasn't ready to deal with her yet.

"Blair, wait." Sue got up from the sofa and stepped into her path. "I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. No matter what my feelings towards Glee are, I shouldn't have said what I did." She gave that a moment to sink in before continuing. "Also, I have decided to step down as co-director."

Blair was starting to take her seriously now. "Really?"

"Yes. It's not my thing." Sue waved her hand. "It's too fruity. And as you well know I don't handle emotional teenagers well unless they're breaking down from physical exhaustion. My methods are extreme, I know, but when I coach and they win – _I_ win. You know how I feel about winning."

"I do, but Sue…Life isn't all about winning. Life is messy and impromptu and complicated. It's filled with as many losses as wins. You gotta take the good and the bad and accept that you can't change it." Blair had a feeling that her last words would click with Sue, and they did.

Sue instantly remembered the last sentence Blair said to her. "You used my own words against me."

"It was the last thing you said to me my first night here. It stuck." Blair gestured to her room. "Goodnight, Sue."

"Goodnight, Blair." Sue was sorry for how Blair was affected by all this and would be careful to ensure Blair didn't get caught in the crossfire of what she was going to do next.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 7


	8. Screw school hierarchy

**A/N: Hey, Readers! A little head's up here about something – I did not edit this 'Episode'. I finished writing it at 2 AM and too tired to edit but wanted to get it posted, so I apologize for any grammatical errors, typos, etc. With that said, hope you enjoy it reading. : )**

* * *

Thanks to the blogosphere, the fact that Quinn was pregnant was all over the school. Blair heard all about from Rachel how she tried to stop the story by giving the blogger a pair of her panties, but it clearly didn't work out in the end. The first thing she did was give Rachel props for trying to take care of herself, the second thing she did was tell her how creepy it was for her to do it, and the third thing she did was try and track down the blogger to rip their head off – literally.

"I'm going to kill them," Blair seethed at school when she saw the blogger walk by. She took her backpack off her shoulder and handed it to Rachel. "Hold this please." Blair dropped the bag into Rachel's hand and stormed off.

"Ohhhh no…" Kurt was quick to stop her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, turned her around, and guided her back to the lockers. "You have murder face on and we cannot afford to be witnesses against you at your trial."

Blair took her bag back from Rachel who was holding it out to her then crossed her arms and pouted, "You never let me murder anybody."

"It's because we love you." Kurt patted Blair's head which resulted in Blair sticking her tongue out at him in reply.

"Loser," she muttered, though with love.

"Jerk," Kurt beamed, saying it the same way she did. His beaming didn't last for long because Karofsky was coming down the hall with a Slushie cup in his hand so Kurt ducked and Rachel quickly ran off.

Blair pointed at the hockey jerk with a death glare in her eyes. "Move along."

Karofsky made it out like he was about to throw it at her but continued down the hall and eventually found his target – Finn.

Blair practically felt steam shooting out of her ears at the sight of this and was about to do something about it, but a hand on her arm prevented her from doing so. She was about ready to rip the hand off until she saw it belonged to Liam, who looked as upset about this as she was.

"I got this," he told her, not taking his eyes off Karofsky and went down the hall.

When Liam arrived Finn was telling Karofsky that he was going to pay for what he did and Karofsky retorted by saying neither he nor Quinn had the juice anymore. Liam responded to this by shoving Karofsky against the wall, saying firmly, "But I do. And if you mess with my sister or my friend ever again I will **end you**."

Karofsky scoffed, acting like Liam's threat didn't bother him, and pushed him away. "Yeah, whatever." With nothing else to say, he continued down the hall.

During this whole exchange, Blair stood with Kurt and watched with wide eyes. "Whoa."

"Double whoa." Kurt needed to fan himself for a moment. He then realized Rachel wasn't standing with them anymore. "Where did Rachel go?"

Blair looked around and didn't spot her either. "She must have run for the hills when the Slushie appeared. We'll see her in class." She playfully stepped aside with a flourishing arm wave. "Loser."

Kurt bowed his head. "Jerk." They linked arms with a laugh and as they went down the hall, they each looked back to Liam who was still talking to Quinn and Finn. Blair could easily figure out why Kurt looked back, but Blair had no idea why she did.

* * *

After Glee rehearsal where Mr Schue gave the assignment of making a mash-up with one of his favorite songs – Bust a Move – Blair had been wracking her brain. She was flipping through her playlist even in class but couldn't find one. Blair was starting to think that – despite Mr Schue's lesson that two unexpected things can work great together – there wasn't a song that would work. Granted this was only her first day trying so she wasn't going to give up yet.

At lunch, Blair sat on the staircase outside with music playing in her ears. She was so engulfed in the music that she jumped about fifty feet when a hand touched her shoulder. "Holy shit. You're popping up out of nowhere today."

Liam sat down on his spot on the steps and smiled, "I'm a ninja, hear me roar."

Blair almost spit out her soda when he said that. "I think if ninjas roard that would kinda defeat the whole stealth purpose."

Liam had to give her that one. "How about this then – Silent but deadly?"

A slow grin spread across Blair's face. "I like it."

"Have you stopped volunteering at the hospital?" Liam asked out of nowhere. "I haven't seen you when I've been there."

"They moved me from the old people ward to the young people ward. Apparently I'm better with kids than I am with elders." Blair shrugged because they didn't really give her a reason on her assignment change, but it didn't bother her. Her favorite elderly patient had been discharged awhile ago so she didn't mind trying to brighten up the kids' day.

Liam was surprised to hear that. "I would have figured you'd send them running away in fear."

"Hey!" Blair scoffed with an 'I can't believe you just said that' smile and threw a grape at him, which he managed to catch with his mouth. "Now you're just showing off."

Liam grinned as he chewed the grape then asked her, "Any ideas for the mashup?"

Blair shook her head. "Not a one, but the day is still young."

"If anyone can come up with something, it's you. I never would have thought to put together 'Don't Stop Believing' and 'Castle on a Hill' together, but you did. And it worked." Liam reached down and snagged a grape from the container in Blair's hand. "You'll think of something."

Blair shrugged because she wasn't too sure of that. "How's Quinn doing? She seems pretty shaken by the whole school hierarchy thing."

"She's determined to come up with a plan to make her cool again. Her being my little sister is only going to keep her afloat for so long." Liam never really cared about the whole hierarchy system in the school but did appreciate being able to fall back on it when he needed to.

Blair had a bit of a double-take moment there. "Little sister? I thought you guys were twins."

Liam laughed at that. "No, we're definitely not twins. We're in the same grade because we're only a few months apart. It wasn't until after my parents adopted me that they found out they were having Quinn." He looked at her weirdly because of the expression on Blair's face. She looked like she'd just solved a big mystery. "You doing alright over there?"

Blair was just thinking how that explained so much. If Liam was adopted then no wonder he didn't share the same name as his Alter. Blair really hadn't thought much about her Reality in awhile because she was feeling so settled in this one, but hearing Liam's revelation sent her back a little.

When Liam asked if she was doing alright, she snapped out of it. "Yeah, sorry. I was just making sense of it in my head. I _really_ thought you and Quinn were twins."

Liam kinda thought there was more to it than what she was saying but didn't question any further and instead tried to steal another grape.

"Hey," Blair pulled the container from his reach. "You're already stolen one. Now you're just getting greedy."

"One more isn't going to kill you," Liam grinned and reached over again, only to have her move it further.

"How do you know?" Blair questioned jokingly. "It just might."

Liam looked at her thoughtfully. "I'm willing to risk it." He reached out again and accidentally knocked the container out of her hands.

Blair's mouth dropped when her container went flying and her grapes dropped everywhere like confetti. She turned to Liam with his expression then burst out laughing. "Guess neither of us were meant to have them."

Liam laughed at this turn of events as well. "Guess so."

Puck went over to the stairwell and found Liam and Blair laughing together. He felt a bit jealous and cleared his throat to make his presence known. "What's so funny?"

"The great grape-pocalypse." Blair smiled at Puck. "What's up?"

"The Auditorium is free. Thought you might want to work on the mash-up together." Puck spoke to Blair then glared at Liam.

Blair was busy gathering up her lunch things so she missed this. "Sure. Later, Liam."

"Later," Liam replied and had to take deep breaths as he watched them walk off together because seeing them like that made his blood boil.

* * *

Blair and Puck stayed in the Auditorium for the rest of lunch period and through free period – a time Puck was supposed to be at football practice. She pointed this out to him after another failed attempted that led to both of them laying on the stage looking up at the ceiling. "Aren't you supposed to be at football?"

"I'd rather be doing this." Puck took her hand before turning over to kiss her.

Blair smiled into the kiss before pulling back. "You're not going to get in trouble?"

"Since when are you worried about getting into trouble?" Puck laughed because this wasn't like her.

Blair looked back up to the ceiling and sighed. "I don't know. Guess all this stupid hierarchy stuff has got me thinking. I never had to deal with this at my old school."

"You don't talk about your life before Lima often." Puck rolled to his side and propped himself up on his arm. "What was it like?"

Blair shouldn't have brought it up. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You like keeping people at arm's length, don't you?" Puck was being as patient as he could be with her but he wanted her to let him in one way or another.

"Less chance of getting hurt that way," Blair admitted, moving to a sitting position and leaning back on her hands.

Puck was serious when he said, "You don't have to worry about that with me." Intentionally hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do.

"I have to worry about that with everyone," Blair countered. It was the truth. She'd lost so many people, more than she wanted to remember, and getting hurt by someone she cared about wasn't something she could deal with anymore. With Sue she could at least be slightly prepared for it, but anyone else – Puck especially – probably not.

Puck wanted to get to know her beyond what she's told him. And even with what she's told him there wasn't any detail, it was just basic facts. "Come on, Han. You can tell me one thing. If you tell me one thing about you I bet it would make you feel better about letting me in."

There were a lot of things about herself that she could share with him but chose something that wouldn't reveal too much. "My favorite song of all time is 'Sweet Caroline'."

This might be a start if he could get her to say more. "Why?"

"My dad used to sing it to my mom whenever she was upset. They could have had the biggest fight ever but as soon as he'd start singing that song, it was like…" Blair smiled at the memory, "It was like he was saying the ultimate 'I love you' and the problems didn't seem to matter anymore. Whenever I hear that song it makes me think that one day I might have something like that with someone, too."

Puck smiled at Blair. "Thank you for sharing that with me."

Blair moved some hair behind her ear. "Thank you for listening." She returned to lying down and asked Puck teasingly, "So, have you told your mother about me yet?"

Puck practically guffawed at that as he laid down beside her. "Not a chance. My mom would flip if she found out I was dating you."

Blair stood up for this and Puck followed suite. She crossed her arms feeling a bit offended. "So…you want me to share everything about myself with you but you won't even tell your mother about me? Are you ashamed of me?"

This wasn't what he meant at all. "No, no, no. That's not it. It's just that my mom – my mom expects me to date a Jewish girl. And you're clearly not Jewish."

Maybe Blair was taking this too personally, but it's where her emotions went. "So you're not ashamed of me, just of the that I'm not Jewish and too Korean to look the part?"

Puck had no idea how this spiraled so fast. "What? No! That's not what I'm saying at all."

"Really?" Blair scoffed. "Because that's exactly what it sounded like to me." She scooped her bag off the floor and stormed off before Puck had the chance to even come up with a reply.

* * *

Blair didn't talk to Puck for the rest of that day or the next. She wasn't in the mindset to do it and as she kept running through the conversation in her mind she wasn't sure if she was in the right to be offended and that just made it all the worse.

Rachel could tell something was up with her but it wasn't until Glee rehearsal that she took the seat beside her and asked. "Everything okay?"

"I think Puck and I had our first fight yesterday and I'm not entirely sure if it's my fault or not." Blair dropped her face in her hands and sighed loudly. "I'm so not used to this."

Rachel looked at her, confused. "You've never had a boyfriend before?"

"Oh, no, I have. I've had girlfriends, too, but it was…different. My fights with them weren't about whether or not we were good enough to meet the other's parents. What we fought about was…different." Blair didn't think she was making any sense but it wasn't like she could tell Rachel the full on truth so she tried to stick close to it as much as possible without giving too much away.

Rachel was still a bit confused, but this wasn't the time or place to get more into it. She did have one thing to say, though. "Maybe your relationship with Puck means more than the others you've had?" She had no idea if she was right or not but it had to be said. "Something to think about."

The rest of the kids filed into the room and serious conversations ended when Kurt and Mercedes went over to Blair to show off the purple nail polish and hair dye they found for her. Blair was so grateful for this lighthearted conversation and because of it, she didn't even notice Puck with his guitar talking to the band.

Mr Schue came in and addressed the club. "Hey, guys, any ideas for a mash-up?" When everyone groaned and muttered, he laughed, "Come on, guys, it's like you're begging me to start dancing." He laughed all the more when pretty much all the kids said their varying 'noes'.

It got quiet in the room when Puck said to Mr Schue, "I've been working on something."

Mr Schue was surprised and impressed. "Take it away."

Puck started strumming his guitar to the intro for 'Sweet Caroline' with his back turned to the group but when the opening lyrics began, he turned around to face them and sang directly to Blair. He hoped that this would be the first step in making things right with her.

Blair gasped when he started singing this song because she had just told him what it meant to her. She honestly thought she was going to cry but tried really hard not to. There was a time she would have instantly gone cynical-mode and think Puck was only singing this song as an out or something of her mad at him, but now as she sat there and saw the look on his face and heard the way he sang the words it pulled at her heartstrings.

When Puck sang the last words and the song came to an end he was going to tell Blair how sorry he was but he didn't get a chance because she shot right out of her chair, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

As they kissed some of the Glee members cheered and whistled but there were a few that didn't like what they were seeing for personal reasons.

Finally Mr Schue got back the club's attention. "Alright, that's enough of that." When Puck and Blair pulled apart, he pointed at them with a laughing smile, "Don't make me send you to different ends of the room." Mr Schue clapped his hands together. "Alright, who's next?"

* * *

After rehearsal, Blair stood against the row of lockers while Puck got stuff out of his. "I'm sorry I freaked the other day about not meeting your mom. I'm not used to this part, the whole meeting the parents thing. I grew up in a small town where everyone pretty much knew everyone and I grew up with the people I eventually dated. So, I'm sorry. And thank you for the song. It meant a lot to me."

Puck closed his locker and took her hand in his. " _You_ mean a lot to me. I hope you know that. I've never felt this way about anyone before which is why I'm going to tell my mom about us. If she has a problem with it then she's just going to have to find a way to get over it."

Blair shook her head at this. "I don't want to cause a rift between you and your mom. You never know how much time you're gonna have left with them. Don't waste it." She kissed his cheek. "It's fine, I swear."

"You sure?" Puck needed to be positive she was alright with this.

Blair nodded. "I'm sure." They walked down the hall together as she asked him, "Have you decided what you're gonna do with the whole Glee club or football thing?" Blair knew all about how the football coach was making them choose between one or the other.

Puck hadn't yet. "Not yet. I…" He was cut off when Karofsky threw a Slushie at both him and Blair. This was the first time it'd ever happened to either of them and they were both stunned.

It didn't take long for Blair to go from stunned to pissed, though. "You're dead!" she shouted but was stopped by Puck from doing anything.

"Come on." Puck guided Blair to the locker room so they could get cleaned up and appreciated the fact that she didn't put up a fight about it.

Liam saw the whole thing and waited until Blair and Puck were out of sight before he tackled Karofsky to the floor and whaled on him. He got a couple more good punches in before getting to his feet and pointing firmly down at him. "If you ever Slushie Blair again – If you even so much as **look** at her, you're a dead man."

Karofsky coughed and groaned but that didn't stop him from talking back. "Big talk from a guy who isn't her boyfriend."

Liam was about to start beating on him again but stopped when a teacher came into the hall and asked, "What's going on here?"

Karofsky smirked at Liam in a way that'd make him think he was about to tell, but didn't. "Nothing. I tripped and faceplanted. All good."

The teacher looked around to see if any other students would say something different but none said a word. This made them say, "Go to the nurse if you need to and everyone else get to class, now."

Karofsky got to his feet and pointed at Liam with a laugh before going down the hall. Liam punched a locker before going in the opposite direction.

* * *

Blair and Puck missed all this because they were busy cleaning up. "Can't believe I ever tried doing this to you," Puck said as he rinsed out his hair.

"Now I know how Rachel and my other friends feel." Blair wrung out her hair a bit in the sink. "I bet you've made your decision now. You're gonna pick football, aren't you?"

Puck didn't want to admit that, but he had to. "I can't take the humiliation like this again. But me choosing football isn't going to change anything with us, will it?"

Blair finished rinsing out her hair again and answered him. "As long as you're not worried about your social standing by dating me."

"I got Slushied because of Glee. Not because of you." Puck kissed her gently then pulled back and smoothed down her wet hair. "I'm sorry you got caught in my crossfire."

"Eh, it's alright. Granted I still want to rip his head off, but I kinda feel like I've been fully initiated into Glee Club so I'm gonna wear my Slushie stained shirt with pride." Blair waved her hands down herself to show off her grape stained tee shirt. "Besides, it's purple. Can't go wrong with that."

Puck chuckled at her, "You're something else, you know that?"

Blair beamed as she grabbed her things and left the locker room with him. "Why yes, yes I do."

* * *

Later that day, Blair sat stood with the Glee club and Mr Schue in the choir room – at least those who weren't a part of the football team. At three-thirty they'd know who picked what. When it hit that time on the dot, everyone turned to the door and there was no one there. Blair knew not to expect Puck but she was hoping at least Mike would stick with Glee and was disappointed to find he wasn't going to. That disappointment changed when Mike and the other football player whose name Blair couldn't remember for the life of her came into the room.

Blair happily went over to Mike and hugged him. "You're here!"

"I couldn't leave my only foxtrot friend behind," Mike laughed and the pair busted a move before they rejoined the group.

Kurt saw who was coming in next and got Blair's attention as he pointed over.

Blair turned around to see Puck walk in. She gasped and ran over giggling as she threw her arms around him. Blair pulled back and held onto his hands. "You do realize that since you've been officially Slushied you'll likely get one every day now, right?"

Puck didn't care. This club and Blair meant so much to him that it was worth it. "Bring it."

"Am I late to the party?" Liam asked as he stuck his head around the corner.

"You jerk!" Quinn called out to her brother. "I seriously thought you were ditching us."

Liam made a 'pfft' sound as he brushed off his shoulder. "I'm a member of Glee. Screw school hierarchy."

"Screw school hierarchy!" they all cheered then looked around and realized someone was missing.

Rachel was the first to say something about it. "Wait, where's Finn?"

They all turned to the door and waited but it didn't seem like he was going to be coming. Apparently he didn't share their sentiments about the school's hierarchy.

* * *

At lunch the following day, Liam was sitting on the stairwell alone. Blair wasn't there and he hadn't seen her, which was weird. It was even weirder when Quinn came over and sat down. "She's not coming. I saw her in the Auditorium with Puck rehearsing again."

Liam shrugged like it didn't bother him in the least. "It's not like I have to eat her with every day."

"But you like her" Quinn pointed out. "You like her, don't you?" When Liam didn't say anything, she added in, "Look, Liam, you may not realize it but it's clear to me and everyone else that you really like Blair. It's all over school how you slammed Karofsky for throwing a Slushie at Blair but only threatened him when it was me and Finn, so it's only a matter of time before she hears it, too. Wouldn't it be better if she heard it from you instead?"

"Why the hell would I do that?" Liam firmly added in, "I'm not going to get in between her and Puck. I won't mess with her like that."

"Are you really going to sit there and tell me that you think Puck is the right guy for her?" Quinn scoffed. "We both know what he's like."

Liam hated the fact that Blair was dating Puck but he wasn't going to break them up. "I won't hurt her, Quinn, and I can't believe you're encouraging me to try."

"I don't want you to hurt Blair," Quinn countered. "I want you to be happy and I want Blair to be happy, so why can't you just be happy together?"

"Because she's happy with someone else." Liam grabbed his things and was about to leave, but stopped when Quinn asked him,

"Or is she?"

Liam paused for a moment as that question resonated with him, but he didn't look back and just kept going while trying very hard not to think about that question.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 8


	9. I love you

Sue pulled into her parking spot at the school and looked at Blair with a heavy sigh. "I've had it with this silent treatment, Blair. It's been days. What is going on with you? Do I need to make an extra appointment with Doc?"

Blair looked away from the window and turned to face her. "You don't need to call Doc." That was all she planned on saying but when she tried to get out of the car, the door was locked to the point where she couldn't unlock it herself. Blair faced Sue again, this time incredulously. "Did you seriously use the child's lock on me?!"

"You're not getting out of this car until you tell me what's going on." Sue was firm about this.

A sharp breath left Blair before she answered. "You want to hear it? Fine. I'm pissed at you for kicking Quinn off the Cheerios."

"I can't have a pregnant girl on my team," Sue defended. "Do you really think it will be good for her? Not to mention the fact that it just might cost me Nationals?"

"You could have had her do _something_!" Blair exclaimed. "Of course I don't expect her to be doing round-offs or anything like that, but jeeze, Sue, you didn't have to kick her off completely. I know what it's like to _need_ something. Quinn needs something."

"Oh, and your little Glee club isn't enough for her?" Sue shot back.

"She was a Cheerio first. It's hard to get over your first anything." Blair crossed her arms and looked out the window again.

Sue was quite familiar with this concept and it hit her so hard that she didn't say another word and released the child's lock so Blair could get out of the car. "Will you be home for supper tonight?"

"I have plans." That was the last thing Blair said to Sue before getting out of the car like a bat out of hell.

Liam spotted Blair heading towards school in a wave of fury so he went over to see what was up. "Isn't it a little early in the morning to want to murder someone?"

"Not when you live with the person you want to murder." Blair stopped and rubbed her forehead with a sigh because that was more horrible than she intended. "I don't mean that I want Sue dead. I just…"

Liam cut her off there. "It was just a figure of speech. I get it. You don't have to explain yourself to me, Blair. I've gotten pretty good at figuring you out."

"Oh, really?" Blair replied with a raised brow as they started walking again. "That sounds like a challenge to mix it up." She smirked mischievously at him. "Challenge accepted."

Liam rolled his eyes dramatically. "I've just unleashed a monster."

Blair laughed at that. "How's Quinn doing?"

"Stressing out over medical bills. They keep coming to the house so it's only a matter of time before we can't intercept them." Liam shook his head at all this. "Honestly, I think they should just tell them. The longer they wait, the harder it's going to be on both sides."

"Everyone does things in their own time." Blair really wasn't sure what else to say about that. "But, hey, feel free to invite her to join us for lunch. She could use the distraction and I've missed eating lunch with Finn since he started eating lunch with her all the time."

"I didn't realize you've gotten so tired of me." Liam was certainly teasing her with that.

Blair played right along. "How could I not? You steal my grapes all the time."

Liam chuckled a bit before pointing out, "You could always bring extra for me."

"Or you could, oh, I don't know, bring your own?" Blair countered as she rolled her hand towards him.

Liam held the school door open for her with a, "Now where's the fun in that?"

* * *

That day at Glee rehearsal, Mr Schue came in saying he had a new song for them for Sectionals – Defying Gravity from Wicked, and of course he gave it to Rachel despite the fact that Kurt wanted to try it and was capable of it. Mercedes thought it was too vanilla and thought it needed her touch, but Mr Schue pointed out that they didn't have enough time to change the arrangement so Rachel would be the one doing it.

Blair didn't think that was very far. "Why can't those who want to sing the solo change the arrangement themselves if they need to and audition for it?"

Mr Schue was dealing with something else already so he wasn't in the mood to deal with this, too. "Like I said, there isn't enough time to do a new arrangement. Rachel is performing the solo." Before Blair could say anything else about it, Mr Schue addressed the whole club. "And another thing – There isn't enough in the school budget to pay for the bus to bring Artie and his wheelchair to Sectionals, so we need to raise the money ourselves. When I was in Glee Club and we needed new uniforms for Sectionals we had a bake sale."

The club grumbled and groaned a bit at that before giving a million excuses as to why they couldn't do it and wouldn't it be easier if Artie's dad just brought him.

Blair scoffed at those reactions. "Seriously? How would you like it if it was you who couldn't go with the rest of the club?" She shook her head at them and looked at Mr Schue. "I'm down for the bake sale and I'm pretty damn good at it. If that's the plan then I've got it covered."

Mr Schue wasn't expecting that from her, if he was to be honest. "Thank you for that, Blair. It's nice to know that someone is willing to put in the effort."

"It's not that we're not willing to put in the effort," Finn defended. "It's just that we're too busy to do it."

"Besides, it's not like Artie minds," Quinn interjected and looked at Artie with a sweet smile. "Right, Artie?"

Artie looked like he'd just been taken off guard with that question, but he said what he felt like he was expected to say, "It's fine. I mean, whatever takes time away from rehearsing doesn't help anything."

Blair sat there so stunned because she couldn't believe everyone else was so ready to just push Artie aside as long as it didn't inconvenience them. She was pulled from this when Liam, who was late in his arrival, came into the room.

"I'm here. Sorry I'm late. What did I miss?" Liam asked that one after another as he made his way to his seat in the back row.

Blair threw her hand out towards the group. "Oh, not much, other than the fact that we can't afford the bus to bring Artie to Sectionals with us and pretty much everyone in here doesn't care."

"It's not that," pretty much the entire club said that once but all shut up when she glared at them.

Liam wasn't siding with the majority on this. "That's not cool. We're gonna have a fundraiser or something, right?"

"Bake sale, apparently," Blair answered, still shooting those around her glares.

"I'm in. I'm not good at baking but I can help." Liam was definitely on board for that.

Once Puck heard Liam side with Blair on the bake sale, he interjected with, "Okay, maybe it's not _that_ bad of an idea. I'll help."

"It's a start, but I'm really disappointed that…" Mr Schue was cut off by the bell which made the kids gather up their stuff and leave without another word about it. He wasn't going to let them get off that easy, though.

* * *

Blair stood with Kurt at his locker, saying, "Mr Schue should let you audition for the solo. I've heard you belt it out and it's _awesome_."

"With how hard you were pressing about letting people make new arrangements themselves to audition for it, seems like you want the solo yourself." Kurt eyed her a bit suspiciously.

"You know I much rather singing duets than singing solos. Or have our karaoke nights proven nothing?" Blair laughed and moved behind Kurt to hug him tight. "Don't worry, Loser, I'm not trying to take your spotlight."

"Can't breathe," Kurt said dramatically, even though he easily could, and when she removed her arms to stand on the other side of him, he closed his locker. "Thanks, Jerk, but aren't you kinda like taking sides here? Isn't Rachel like your best friend?"

Blair blinked a few times at this. "Friend, yes. Best friend? Uh, no. I don't give the title of best friend away that easily."

Kurt linked arms with her as they headed to class. "Am I at _least_ in the running?"

Blair made a dramatic 'pssh' sound before saying, "Of course! How could you even ask me that." She got more dramatic the more she spoke. "What kind of person do you think I am? It's like you don't know me at all."

Kurt smiled as he looked at her like she was nuts. "Alright, keep it up and you'll go from Jerk to Drama Queen."

Blair returned to her normal demeanor when he said that. "How could you threaten me like that? That's not nice."

Kurt laughed and as they parted ways to get to their designated classes they blew kisses to each other, calling out, "Later, Jerk."

"Later, Loser!" Blair shot him one more blow kiss before walking away with a silly grin on her face.

* * *

At the following Glee rehearsal, Kurt tried once again to be given the chance to sing the solo but was once again shot down by Mr Schue. With that done, Mr Schue addressed the whole club. "I wanted to say something to you guys. I was a little disappointed at how most of you were so willing to take the bus to get to Sectionals and make Artie drive by himself with his dad. We're a team, guys. We're in this together."

Mercedes gestured to Artie. "Artie doesn't care. His dad drives him everywhere."

"I do care," Artie interjected, finally standing up for himself about it. "It kinda hurt my feelings. I mean _Blair_ of all people stood up for me and we're not even on each other's friends radar."

"We didn't think you would take it personally," Rachel defended and didn't appreciate it when Blair scoffed at her for saying that.

Artie said something right back to Rachel. "Well, you're irritating most of the time, but don't take that personally."

That shut Rachel right up.

Mr Schue took lead of this discussion again. "I don't think you guys understand how much harder Artie has to work just to keep up. We're riding to Sectionals together or we're not going at all. And to pay for the bus, we're having a bake sale."

He let them sit with that for a moment as he went to the door to let other students in who were pushing old wheelchairs into the room. "Saving Nations Nursing Home was having a tag sale, and my AV club friends here agreed to help out. For the next week, each of you are going to spend three hours a day in a wheelchair." There was something Mr Schue forgot to add in, "Oh, oh, oh, and we're doing a wheelchair number."

Most of the club looked aghast at the idea of having to spend time in a wheelchair and even moreso at the prospect of having to do a number in them. Liam thought it was pretty damn cool though and leaned down to say to Artie, "I challenge you to a race."

"You're so on." Artie shook his hand. "Be prepared to get your butt whipped."

"My money's on Artie!" Blair quickly cut in and at Liam's 'what?!' face, she gestured to Artie saying, "Dude, he's got the experience. I don't _always_ bet on the underdog."

* * *

At lunch, Blair and Liam sat in their wheelchairs at the bottom of the staircase they usually sat on outside for lunch. "This feels so weird," Blair laughed as she waved up at it. "I feel like it's baiting us, singing, ' _Sit on me. Siiiiiiit on me!'_."

"I wasn't aware that our staircase sang." Liam tried to roll in his chair but couldn't because it got locked on him again.

Blair saw this and laughed, "And you wondered why I put my money on Artie."

Liam unlocked the chair and rolled closer to her. "Oh, I'm so gonna get the hang of this and he'll be eating my dust."

Blair's mind went to a strange place when he said that. "That sounds kinda dirty. In more ways than one."

Liam rolled his eyes. "Jeeze, Blair." When she wasn't paying attention, he reached out and snagged her container of grapes, set them on his lap and rolled away laughing triumphantly.

"What is it with you and my grapes!" Blair unlocked her own chair and started rolling after him but since her wheelchair was old and pretty beaten up, the brakes slipped into the on position and caused her to fall out of it, hitting the concrete hard.

Blair cried out in pain when this happened because her left arm landed in a way it shouldn't have.

Liam stopped when he heard this and darted right out of his wheelchair to get to her. "Blair? Holy shit, Blair, I'm sorry. I'm gonna get help."

Blair just tried to breathe through the pain and nodded when he ran off to get someone.

* * *

It wasn't long before an ambulance was called and Blair was brought to the ER. After x-rays were taken it was deemed that surgery wasn't needed, but she was going to need a cast for awhile. Blair could hear Sue yelling at Mr Schue outside the room while her cast was getting put on.

"This is all your fault, William!" Sue shouted at him. "If you didn't make her roll a mile in someone else's wheels then she wouldn't be in here!"

"They were expected to behave responsibly, Sue. This is not my fault," Mr Schue shot right back.

The cast was finished so Blair went out to tell them both to stop talking. "Will you two just shut up?! This is my fault and no one else's. I was messing around with the chair – something I shouldn't have done because I'm not used to how they work. So, Sue, stop yelling at Mr Schue. And Mr Schue, do me a favor and not make me feel even more stupid than I already do for falling out of the thing!"

Blair had nothing else to say to them so she stormed off down the hall to leave. Upon arriving in the waiting room she found Liam and Finn there. She knew Liam went with her when she was brought in, but seeing Finn there was a surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard what happened and wanted to make sure you were okay. I left a message for Puck but he's probably still showering or something. I guess he and Quinn got into a food fight while they were baking in the Home Ec. Room at lunch." Finn gestured to the cast that went from her hand up to her elbow. "They had purple. Nice."

Blair was trying hard to read into the whole food fight between Puck and Quinn thing and just smiled at Finn. "Thanks for coming. And if y'all don't mind, I would like to get out of here before Sue or Mr Schue come out."

"We can do that." Liam led the way and once they were outside, he said, "Blair, I'm sorry. It's my fault you got hurt."

Blair used her good hand to wave him off. "It's fine, Liam. Really, I'm not mad."

Finn stopped walking when he heard that. "You're not mad? That's got to be a first. How good are the meds you're on?"

Blair shoved him a bit for that and continued walking. They all came to a stop when Kurt pulled up to their sidewalk, got out of the car he borrowed from his dad, and ran over to them. The first thing Kurt did was hug Blair, making sure not to hurt her arm. "I just heard. Are you okay?"

Blair hugged him back. "Once I get far away from here, I'll be even better."

"In that case, let me give you a ride. You guys can come, too." Kurt opened the door for Blair and once they were all in the car, he drove off.

It wasn't long before Blair's phone rang. Seeing it was Sue, she answered, "I got a ride, Sue, I'm fine. Yes, I'll see you at home. Mhm…I'm fully aware I'm grounded. Yup. Later." She ended the call and put it back into her bag.

"Why are you grounded?" Finn asked as he leaned forward from the back seat.

"I told Sue and Mr Schue to shut up and yelled at both of them." Blair shrugged in an 'oh well' manner and just closed her eyes, trying to push the insanity of this day out of her mind.

* * *

That night at supper, Blair didn't make much eye contact with Sue. With everything that's been going on, things had been even more tense then before. Finally, Sue was the one to break the silence. "Are you being safe?"

Blair was taken aback by that question because it had _nothing_ to do with any of the issues between them. "What?"

"Are you and that Puck boy being safe?" Sue spoke slower this time so Blair would catch onto every word. "And don't even try to deny the fact you two are having sex."

Blair wasn't going to deny it because she finally got over the feeling that she was going to regret sleeping with Puck for some reason and did it. They've done it more than once, in fact, but that wasn't the point. The point was Blair had no idea how Sue knew. "How…"

Sue knew what Blair was going to ask and cut her off. "I found an empty birth control box in the trash the other day. With everything that's happened to Quinn, I need to make sure you are safe."

Blair nodded. "My parents covered the whole safe sex talk, Sue. We're both being safe. I promise."

As awkward a conversation this was for her to have, she was glad to hear that. "Good." Sue was about to return to her meal but had to say something else. "Don't ever tell me to shut up again, Blair. You aren't the only one who gets emotional about people they care about. If anything happened to you…" She couldn't even finish her sentence.

Blair hadn't really thought about what things might be like for Sue – she hadn't thought about looking at things from her perspective, but ever since the wheelchair assignment Blair had started to. She finally realized that she wasn't the only one who lost her parents – Sue lost them, too. And to Sue, Blair was the only thing she had left of two people she cared very much about. Blair could see that now and it changed things a little bit.

"I'm sorry," she finally replied. "I don't mean to put you through hell."

Sue shook her head at that. "You're not, Blair. You're not. I understand you're going through a lot. I am too, but, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but we can't keeping right into attack mode. We've got to try talking first, okay?"

Blair smiled a bit when Sue said that. "You went to see Doc without me, didn't you?"

Sue scoffed heavily. "I did no such thing." (She absolutely did) "Now eat your food."

"Yes, ma'am." Blair stabbed a piece of broccoli before saying, "Hey, Sue," when Sue looked up from her own plate, Blair added in, "I love you."

Sue's face softened for a moment, just long enough to say, "I love you too, Blair." With their moment over, she returned to her normal self, saying, "Now enough of this sappy stuff. We have a meal to finish."

Blair didn't say another word but smiled when Sue wasn't looking at her and when Blair wasn't looking at Sue, Sue smiled right back.

* * *

Since Blair couldn't control the wheelchair with only one hand, she was excused from the assignment. This made her put more effort into the baking which was a challenge with one fully functional hand, but she was doing her best.

Blair looked up from the measuring cup when Finn came into the Home Ec. Room at school she was using. "Did you guys already sell out? It's going to be awhile before these are done."

"We sold one," Finn informed her then started to pace back and forth.

Blair could tell something was bothering him. "Whoa, what's going on, Finn?"

"I'm sick of Quinn attacking me! Nothing I do is ever good enough and she keeps calling me stupid! It's not _my_ fault I can't find a freaking job in this godforsaken town!" Finn took deep breaths and sat on the table he was standing near. "I'm losing it, Blair. I have no idea what to do."

Blair sat down beside him. "It's an impossible situation, Finn. I can't even imagine what you and Quinn are going through, but you can handle it. You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be."

Finn felt pretty good when she said that to him and then something clicked. "Did you just quote Winnie the Pooh to me?"

"Technically I quoted Christopher Robin," Blair corrected, then nudged him with a smile. "But, hey, if it works then it works. And it does. I got faith in you, Finn. You'll figure something out."

Finn wished he had as much faith in himself as she seemed to. "I wish there was a magic wand to everything all better."

"I'm afraid I'm fresh out of magic wands," Blair replied as she patted him on the back. "But if I happen to find one, you'll be the first to know."

* * *

Blair was on her way to class when Becky Jackson came bouncing down the hall straight towards her. "Hey, Becky Baby. You look happy." Blair adored Becky beyond words because she was a sweet badass who knew who she was and didn't try to let anyone change her. Well, that and Becky reminded her of someone who meant so very much to her.

"I made the Cheerios Blair Bear! Your mom – I mean Coach Sylvester picked me! I'm going to be so popular." Becky took Blair's good hand and did a 'happy dance' with her.

Blair wasn't surprised at all that Sue picked Becky to be on the Cheerios and thought it was awesome. "Lucky! You're gonna kick ass and take names, Becky Baby."

"You know it, Blair Bear!" Becky snapped with sass before going on her way.

Blair continued down the hall to her class but stopped when she heard Puck shout down the other hall that Finn didn't deserve to have Quinn as his girlfriend. This caught her attention so she headed that way to find out what was going on and when she got there, Puck and Finn were beating each other on the floor. "What the holy hell?!" She was about to pull them apart, hurt arm and all, but Mr Schue broke up the fight before she could.

Puck claimed he was stressed about the bake sale because he liked Artie and turned to leave but froze for a second when he saw Blair standing in the crowd. He went over to her instead and once they were far enough away, he asked, "How much of that did you hear?"

"Just the part where you told Finn he wasn't good enough to have Quinn as his girlfriend." Blair crossed her arms as best she could. "What was that about?"

"He's not doing anything to support her or the kid. It's like he doesn't give a damn about what she's going through." Puck has been trying really hard not to care and to stay out of things with Quinn but it was becoming quite the challenge. The more baby talk there was the harder it was for Puck to stay out of it, but that didn't change the fact that he never wanted Blair to know he was the father of Quinn's baby and not Finn.

"That baby isn't the only kid in this scenario. Quinn and Finn both are still kids. Neither of them are mature enough or ready enough to deal with this." Blair was about to say more but was cut off when Puck said with quite a bit of emotion,

"I'd be mature enough to deal with it."

Blair wasn't expecting to hear anything like that. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Puck realized what he said and quickly made up a reason for saying it. "I meant if we were in their shoes, I'd be mature enough to deal with it. I'd take care of things."

"Well, we're never going to be in their situation. Hence why we're being safe." Blair couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it than this but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Look, don't judge someone based off how you'd do it. Not everyone handles things the same way – this I know you know."

Puck just nodded and said, "Okay." He reached out and gently ran his thumb over Blair's cheek, saying with a smile, "I love you. You know that, right?"

This was the first time Puck had said that to her and she couldn't believe it was in the middle of a semi-empty hallway. "I do now. And I love you, too." Blair wasn't entirely certain that she did love him like that until the second before she said it, but she did. She did so very much that it surprised her that she didn't realize it until then.

* * *

After school, an excited Kurt came running up to Blair, exclaiming, "I hit it! I hit the High F! I'm gonna win the audition that Mr Schue _finally_ agreed to let us have!"

"As if you ever doubted yourself." Blair was so happy for Kurt and she also realized something. "How did I become the first person people come to with happy news? You with your High F and Becky with the Cheerios – you both came straight to me. It's…weird. I'm usually a bed news magnet."

Kurt sighed with a smile. "Maybe it's because while you don't use the best friend term often, doesn't mean others don't. Believe it or not Blair, you are considered to be other people's best friends."

Blair gasped in a playful manner. "You take that back right now."

"Can't take back the truth." Kurt found her so amusing when she got like this and egged her on a little. "Come now, it's only fair. You have any non-bad news to share?"

Blair looked ahead as they walked and answered with, "Puck told me he loved me and I told him I loved him back."

Kurt gasped in shock at this and stopped her from walking any further. "Shut the front door! Puck – mohawk wearing, football playing, never been serious about a girl before Puck told you he _loved_ you? And you said it back?" He was still dumbfounded even as Blair nodded in confirmation. "How did that happen?"

"I think I have a pattern," Blair admitted. "I hate someone until I don't and then I end up falling in love with them. It's not the first it's happened. It's a curse."

"It sounds like the makings for a soap opera. One that I would watch _constantly_." Kurt linked his arm with her and resumed walking. He was really getting into it now. "Or better yet, you could write a book series about your past love affairs. You could call it…Persons of the Past."

Blair raised her brow at that. "Persons of the Past? Really?"

Kurt shrugged a little bit. "It's a working title."

Blair thought about it for a moment then smiled. "Actually, I kinda like it."

Kurt moved a little closer to her as they walked. "I expect royalties for my title and literary genius."

Blair went right along with it. "But of course. I wouldn't take advantage of my friend."

"Don't you mean best friend?" Kurt wiggled his brows a bit.

Blair looked at him stoically. "Don't push it, Loser."

Kurt sighed. "Ah, Jerk, it was worth a try."

* * *

The next day after school, Sue waited for Blair because they had somewhere to get to. Once she got into the car, Sue asked, "How was your day?"

"Kurt and Rachel had a Diva-Off, but Kurt's voice cracked at the High F. I'm a bit suspicious as to why because he nailed it before, but I'll get it out of him eventually. And the bake sale raised about twelve-hundred bucks so we can get the bus for Artie." That was pretty much the gist, so Blair turned the question back on Sue. "How was your day?"

"I gave Principal Figgins enough money to pay for three more ramps for the school." At Blair's jaw-dropped expression, Sue said, "What? It's about damn time the school was more accessible."

"You've got layers, Sue. Admit it. Underneath all those layers is an ooey-gooey marshmallow heart of sweetness." Blair said this in the cutest sounding voice she could muster.

Sue knew Blair was just trying to get under her skin but she wasn't going to let her. "I prefer to think of myself as a hedgehog – prickly on the outside but you give me enough time and I'll uncurl eventually." She pulled up to the stoplight and smiled a bit at Blair. "That's something you and I have in common."

Blair couldn't argue with her there. "Yep. Sounds about right."

A little bit later, Sue pulled into the Healthcare Facility's parking lot and went inside with Blair. Once they reached the designated wing, they signed in. "How's she doing?" Sue asked the nurse behind the desk.

"She's doing good," the nurse replied. "Asks about you both a lot. She's been watching you on TV, Sue. And Blair, she keeps listening to that tape your recorded for her. I think she's listened to your arrangement for Defying Gravity a million times."

Sue felt bad for not coming as often as she should. "I need to get here more often."

Blair felt the same way. "Me, too."

The nurse didn't share their feeling. "You both get here plenty." Now that they were signed in, she led them down the hall and opened the door to one of the rooms. "Jean? Your little sister and Blair are here to see you."

Sue and Blair both ducked around the doorway with huge smiles on their faces. "Hey, Jean!" she they in unison.

Jean looked at the pair of them happily. "Hi, Sue! Hi, Blair! My sister's famous and…" she gasped when she saw Blair's cast, "My niece is hurt!"

"I'm fine Auntie Jean. The doctors fixed me right up and now I get to rock this purple cast for a few weeks." Blair showed off the light purple cast like she was displaying a fancy car.

Jean felt better now. "It is pretty. You'll take care of our Blair won't you, Sue?"

Sue pointed at her with a wink. "You got that right." She took her bag off her shoulder. "I got something for you." Sue reached in and pulled out a Cheerios pom-pom. "Here you go."

Jean loved it. "Wow, a pom-pom! Thank you."

Blair sat on the bed with Jean. "I got something for you, too."

"Is it more music?" Jean asked hopefully.

Blair smiled wide and pulled the CD out of her bag. She recorded covers of the entire soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Jean beamed when she saw it. "My favorite."

"I thought so." Blair put it with her other CDs then returned to the bed. "So, what would you like to do today?"

"Can Sue read to us again?" Jean asked hopefully.

"Of course." Sue brought over a chair and showed the book she brought. "And look what I have here."

"Little Red Riding Hood. I love that story." Jean took Blair's hand and Sue's hand then listened as Sue told the story.

Blair closed her hand around Jean's and listened. She loved Jean so much and enjoyed every second they spent visiting all together. Blair hadn't told any of her friends about Sue's sister and wouldn't ever unless Sue said it was alright. She wasn't thinking about that now, though, she was focused on listening to Sue tell the tell of Red Riding Hood as the sisters looked at each other with so much love that it warmed Blair's heart.

 _Everyone has layers. When someone decides to finally show you theirs, it just might end up being worth the wait._

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 9


	10. Friends

It was time for Glee rehearsal again and this week's assignment from Mr Schue was…drumrolls…Ballad! He explained to the group that a ballad was a story set to music and since they had to sing one at Sectionals per the new rule, he decided that would be a good assignment for them. They had to sing a ballad to another person and make them really feel the portrayed emotion – the kicker, they had to pick who they'd sing to out of a hat at random.

Puck was the first to step up and draw a name from the top hat on the grand piano. He was sending out vibes to get Blair, but the vibes didn't answer and he got Mercedes instead. Neither one were too happy about that.

Artie went up next and pulled out Quinn's name. They were both fine with that. Tina followed Artie who got Mike, and then Liam went up. He reached into the hat and pulled out Blair's name. "I got Blair."

"You better not pick a song about grapes." Blair brought two fingers to her eyes and then turned them back around on Liam in an 'I'm watching you' fashion.

"Don't tempt me," Liam grinned back as he returned to his seat.

Puck felt a bit of jealously surge through him and draped his arm around Blair's shoulders to reiterate that Blair was his girl.

Blair didn't notice the ulterior motive of this action and leaned into him while Finn went up to see who he'd get. Blair would have put money down that Finn wanted to get Rachel, but he didn't.

When Finn drew Kurt's name he tried to tell Mr Schue that he didn't think he could do it with another guy and didn't particularly care for the fact that Mr Schue told them the Fates had spoken so the pairing stayed.

Of course, Mr Schue was regretted saying that when it came that Rachel would be paired up with him for the ballad since one of the members were out sick. Finn used his words against him by pointing out that the Fates had spoken and the pairing stayed.

Blair, along with pretty much everyone else in the room, thought it was so funny that Rachel was paired up with Mr Schue and even encouraged it when Rachel suggested the song 'Endless Love'. Blair kinda changed her tune a little bit when she saw how much Rachel was getting into it. Okay, yeah, she knew that Rachel always got into acting out the songs she sang but as Blair watched Rachel moved around the grand piano towards Mr Schue…yeah…that wasn't just acting. As funny as Blair thought this was, she didn't think it was going to end well.

Blair tried to contain her laughter at how relieved Mr Schue looked at the end of the song and got right back to addressing the club. "Yeah, okay, something like that. Let's move on…"

He and everyone else was more than ready to, but based off the smile on Rachel's face she wasn't.

* * *

Between classes, Puck leaned back against the row of lockers and looked up in thought. "How come we don't have inside jokes?"

Blair moved her head around the door of her locker to get a better look at him. "What do you mean?"

"You and Liam have your grapes thing. We don't have a thing like that." Puck stood up straight and faced her. " _I_ want a thing like that."

"We have other things, Puck. Really important things." Blair closed her locker and walked down the hall with him. "I've told you things that I don't talk about. That means more to me than an inside joke any day."

Puck hadn't thought of it like that. "So you and Liam are just friends?"

Blair touched his arm to stop him there. "Is that what you're worried about? You think because Liam and I have jokes that I'm going to leave you for him?"

Puck shrugged a bit. "Well, yeah."

Blair reached up and touched the side of his face. "That's not going to happen, Puck. I'm dating _you_. And I don't plan on that changing any time soon. I love you and that's not something I feel lightly."

Puck leaned down and kissed her. "I love you too. But I still don't like that you're gonna have to sing a ballad with him."

Blair laughed at this, she couldn't help it. "At least you know it won't be 'Endless Love'."

Puck scoffed a chuckle as he placed her hand in the crook of his arm. "Better not." He smirked a bit. "Did you see Rachel's face?"

"I couldn't stop looking at Mr Schue's 'ehhhh she's crazy!' expression." Blair shook her head with a sigh. "That's not going to end well."

Puck happened to agree with her there. "Probably not. But at least it'll be funny to watch."

* * *

Blair sat across Doc in his office and drummed her fingers on the chair, not really in the mood to talk. That changed when Doc raised his brow at her. "Don't do that. I hate when you do that. You think you can make me talk by giving me that inquiring eyebrow raise? It's not going to work." She crossed her arms defiantly but that just sent his brow up higher. Blair dropped her head in defeat. "Fine, okay, it works. I don't know how it works, but it works."

"I've had a lot of experience." Doc had been doing this for a long time. "What would you like to cover first?"

Blair wasn't sure so she came out with the first thing that came to mind. "My boyfriend thinks I'm going to break up with him to date another guy in Glee because we have an ongoing joke thing."

Doc simply asked, "And why do you think he's worried about that?"

Blair shrugged her shoulders as high as they could go. "I don't know! I have guy friends but I only ever have one _boyfriend_. Puck never cares when I go dancing with Mike or bowling with Finn. So why should he care that I joke around with Liam?"

"Perhaps Puck knows something about Liam that doesn't apply to Mike or Finn." This was Doc's suggestion anyway.

Blair stared at him blankly. "Like what?"

This time it was Doc's turn to shrug, and he did so just like she previously had. "I can't answer that."

Blair narrowed her eyes at him because she noticed how he used her own shrug back on her. "You're not a normal therapist."

"I believe you've already established this," Doc answered with a smile. "And besides, I am not a fan of the word 'normal'. After all, normal is but an illusion. What is normal for the spider…"

Blair finished the quote, "Is chaos for the fly. Fair enough."

Doc waited a moment before asking, "Are you worried that there might be some truth in Puck's worry?"

Blair scoffed at that. "No. Just because I have the curse of hating people until I don't and end up falling in love with them doesn't mean that's what's gonna happen with Liam. I with Puck. I love Puck. Liam turned somehow turned into my friend but that's it. There's nothing to worry about."

Doc felt like saying 'she doth protests too much' but that would likely push Blair over her anger edge and he was trying to get through to her without doing that. "Well then, if there's nothing to worry about then there's nothing to worry about."

Blair narrowed her eyes at him again. "You're agreeing with me. I don't like it when you agree with me. There's always some sort of hidden message whenever you agree with me. Can you just tell me this time?"

Doc looked at his watch. "Look at that, our time is up. See you next week, Blair."

Blair got up and grabbed her bag, saying, "I don't like you."

"And yet you dislike me less than your previous therapists, so I consider that a win." Doc waved as Blair left his office and after clearing his notes he asked his receptionist to send in the next patient.

* * *

After her appointment, Blair got a call from Rachel about a shopping trip. She didn't really want to go shopping but Sue had a segment for the news that night which meant she wouldn't be home for dinner and thus Blair would have to eat alone – something she didn't want to do. So Blair told Rachel she'd go if dinner was involved. Rachel was down with that.

Before hitting the shops, they stopped and got a quick bite to eat. Now that Blair's stomach was full and her irritability slightly less, they started shopping. "What exactly are we looking for anyway?"

"The perfect gift for Mr Schue," Rachel answered dreamily. "I didn't realize the connection we had until we sang together."

Blair was looking through a display of bandanas and froze when she heard Rachel say that. "You're kidding me, right?"

Rachel looked a bit offended at that question. "Of course I'm not."

Blair blinked at her a few times. "Rachel, come one. Not only is he older and your teacher, but he's married."

Rachel whipped around to look at another display. "Our love can overcome those obstacles." She then got defensive. "And don't give me a lecture about having feelings for a teacher. You told me all about Rick, remember?"

Blair couldn't believe Rachel just threw that in her face. "But I _never_ did or said anything about it and I sure as hell wasn't deluded enough to think felt anything for me back."

Rachel scoffed loudly. "Now you think I'm deluded? I'm starting to think we're not friends anymore."

"You always say that whenever I tell you the truth. I'm not going to lie to you Rachel. Whatever you think is going on between you and Mr Schue _isn't_." Blair wasn't trying to be harsh but she didn't want Rachel getting hurt and Mr Schue potentially getting into trouble.

Rachel didn't want to hear what Blair was trying to say. "I'm not going to stand here and listen to this. You can find your own way home." She stormed off out of the shop, not caring that she just abandoned Blair because she thought it might teach her a lesson.

Blair stood there with her mouth gaped open in a 'WTF just happened' fashion. She quickly recovered and didn't bother calling anyone for a ride home. Blair was fuming and figured a long would be just what she needed.

* * *

Blair was glad it was now the weekend. She spent Friday night with Puck, going to the movies and other…stuff. On Saturday morning she visited Jean for a couple of hours and it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that Liam sent her a text asking what her ballad was going to be. In all honesty…she had no idea, but didn't tell him that. She texted back that he'd have to wait and see and Liam replied with, 'Same with yours then. And don't think you're getting out of doing one because of the group ballad!'.

Blair shook her head slightly with a smile and texted back, 'Wouldn't dream of it', then set her cellphone down beside her on the sofa as she flicked the TV on. Sue came in a moment later with a bowl of popcorn. "Extra butter?"

"Nope," Sue replied seriously as she sat on the sofa beside her. "Extra _extra_ butter."

Blair rubbed her hands together in an 'ooooo' manner before taking a handful.

Sue grabbed a bunch for herself and pointed at Blair, "If you ever tell my Cheerios I eat this I will ground you for a month of Sundays."

"Being grounded I can handle. You taking away this popcorn for all time isn't worth the risk." Blair grinned and popped a piece into her mouth.

Sue laughed at that. "Threatening to take away your favorite food to get you to do what I want? I'll have to keep that in mind."

Blair's face dropped. "What have I done?"

"Given me _so_ much ammo." Sue looked pretty pleased and took the remote to find a movie they could both agree upon. "Have you picked your love song yet?"

"It's a ballad," Blair corrected. "And not all ballads are love songs."

"That doesn't answer my question." Sue didn't look away from the screen.

"No, I haven't. We're supposed to sing something to them to express what we feel about the other person, but I can't think of anything." Blair put a handful of popcorn in her mouth this time.

"The answer is in the assignment, Blair. Think about how the person makes you feel and find a song to convey it." Sue couldn't believe she was helping her out with this, especially since she didn't know who Blair's ballad pair-up was. "It's Glee club, hun. Not rocket science."

Blair was about to say something to that but was cut off when her phone beeped. She saw it was a message from Liam asking her to be his 'plus one' to family dinner the following night because Finn was going to be there and Liam wanted him to invite a friend so the seating arrangements would be even. She texted back with a simple 'Sure' and left it at that, not realizing she was smiling.

Sue, however, did. "If your ballad partner is whoever you're talking to then you've got it made. I don't think I've ever seen you smile like that before."

Blair had no idea what Sue was talking about. "I wasn't smiling any special way. It was just one of my friends."

"Uh-huh." Sue clearly didn't believe her.

Blair didn't want to talk about this anymore and pointed to the TV listings on the screen. "Let's watch Stick It again. I love your commentary more than the movie."

Sue willingly obliged because she enjoyed giving that movie crap as much as Blair liked listening to her do it.

* * *

Blair had no idea what she was supposed to wear to dinner with the Fabray family so she ended up picking a knee-length black tea dress with long sleeves and a modest neck line. It wasn't all black, though. It was covered with spaced out purple flowers. Blair never liked the dress but she felt the less attention she drew to herself the better. It didn't stop her from wearing her black combat boots though.

At the designated time for her to arrive to dinner, Blair rang the Fabray's doorbell. It wasn't long before Liam answered it wearing a suit. "Whoa," was his greeting when he saw Blair. "I mean, hi. Come on in. You look great."

"I hate this dress," was her reply as she walked into the foyer.

"Then why did you wear it?" Liam chuckled as he led her into the other room.

Blair answered honestly, "Because the only other dress I had was the one I wore to my parents' funeral." She winced as soon as she said it. "Sorry. That was morbid."

"It was honest," Liam countered. "There's a difference."

"Is this the friend you've been telling us all so much about?" Mrs Fabray went over to Blair and took her hand. "Our Liam can't stop talking about you."

Liam couldn't believe she just did that. " _Mom!_ "

Mrs Fabray smiled. "I think I've embarrassed him a little bit, but he'll survive. He always does. So before dinner starts, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

Blair stood there a little dumbfounded because she wasn't expected to be questioned. "Okay, uhm…" she let out a nervous chuckle. "What would you like to know?"

"Liam tells us that you live with Coach Sylvester. How did that happen?" She sat on the sofa in the living room and tilted her head slightly in question.

"Well, uhm, my parents died and since I didn't have any other family Sue was deemed my legal guardian in their will. She was very close to my parents and I think she's also my Godmother, but that could have just been a joke." Blair cleared her throat because she didn't feel like this was just a dinner at a friend's house.

Thankfully Finn arrived before any other questions could be asked and they were all brought into the dining room.

"Sorry about my mom," Liam whispered as he pulled out Blair's chair for her. "I kept telling her that you're just a friend but I don't think she quite grasps the concept."

"It's fine," Blair replied and added in, "Thanks," as she sat in the seat beside Finn. "I didn't even know you owned a suit."

"It was my dad's," Finn admitted as he looked down at it.

Blair turned her head to show him the butterfly hair stick that was in her tied up hair. "This was my mom's."

Finn kinda liked that they had something like that in common because they could understand each other about the loss of a parent. "Cool."

They stopped their quiet conversation when Mr Fabray instructed them all to dig in.

* * *

The meal was nice and conversation was nothing too serious – something Blair appreciated. And after a discussion about how Mrs Fabray cures her own meats, Mr Fabray tapped on his glass, saying, "I'd like to propose a toast." He stood and raised his glass. "The Fabrays are a tight-knit family. I have been blessed with a loving wife, two remarkable daughters, and a stand-up son. My first daughter married a good, Christian man who own his own chain of UPS stores. My son, going after his ambitions and not letting anything or anyone get in his way – I'm proud of you. And my second daughter, our little Quinnie – we are just so proud of her. Captain of the Cheerios. President of the Celibacy Club."

Blair didn't hear what else Mr Fabray was saying because she looked across at Liam who was looking at Finn. She turned to Finn now and he looked like he was going to have a panic attack. Now Blair turned back to Liam who had the same expression on his face – they were both worried Finn was going to tell.

Blair just about jumped out of her skin when Finn shot up into a standing position. She thought he was going to tell Quinn's parents about the baby right then and there but said he had to go to the bathroom instead and went that way.

Mr Fabray thought that was kind of odd. "He does wear a helmet when he plays football, right?"

Quinn laughed, "He's just intimidated by you, Daddy."

Blair picked up her glass of cola and drank a lot of it to keep herself from making _any_ comments.

It wasn't long before Finn returned and with Mrs Fabray's kitchen radio. Now Blair had to say something. "Hey, Finn, what's up?"

Even Quinn was starting to worry a little. "What is this?"

Finn set the radio on the table next to his plate. "Well, we have this assignment in Glee club to sing a ballad. They're all about expressing the things you can't find any other way to say."

Quinn had a bad feeling about this. "Oh, God, Finn, don't. Please, don't."

"This isn't the time or the place for this, Finn." Liam spoke firmly to make his point.

Blair jumped in there, saying, "Finn maybe now isn't the right time…"

Finn wasn't going to listen to any of them. "No. I – I need to do this." He hit the play button and started singing 'You're Having My Baby'.

The more he sang, the more Mr and Mrs Fabray were starting to get the message. Finally, Mr Fabray turned off the music and stood up, looking at Finn like he was about to kill him.

Liam was thinking that was exactly what his father was going to do, so he stood up saying cautiously, "Dad…"

Mr Fabray didn't take his eyes off Finn as he said, "Liam, take your friend home. Your mother and I need to have a talk with your sister and **Finn**."

Blair stood up from the table, saying awkwardly, "It was lovely to meet you both. Uh…bye." She turned around and booked it for the foyer with Liam right behind her.

Once they were outside, they sat on the steps and looked at each other with expressions that clearly displayed they couldn't believe it. Blair pointed back to the house, saying, "Did he seriously just do that?"

Liam nodded. "Yep. He did." He shook his head incredulously. "I just started to forgive Finn for getting my sister pregnant. My parents aren't going to be so forgiving."

Blair put a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Maybe they'll surprise you and hold her tight and tell her it'll be okay."

"That's not how we do things in this house," Liam countered. "If we don't talk about it then it doesn't exist. _That's_ how my parents operate."

Blair wanted to say something else but Finn opened the front door and Quinn came out with him. She got to her feet and faced them. "What happened?"

"They kicked me out." Quinn looked away to wipe her tears.

Liam felt like his blood was boiling. "They can't do that to you." Before anyone could stop him, he stormed into the house.

"Liam, no!" Quinn called out but Blair stepped in her path.

"I'll get him. Okay? I'll get him." Blair hoped that a neutral party would keep things from getting out of hand. She followed the sounds of shouting and went upstairs to find Liam and his father yelling at each other.

"You can't throw her out like she's trash!" Liam shouted at his father. "She's your daughter!"

"Not anymore she's not!" Mr Fabray bellowed. "I don't know who she is anymore but she stopped being my daughter the second she opened up her legs like a little slut before being married!"

"Whoa!" Blair was going to just get Liam and leave but not when he heard Mr Fabray say that. "You're pissed, I get it, but you have no right talking about Quinn like that."

"You have no right being a part of this conversation," Mr Fabray shot back. "This is a family issue."

"Quinn is my friend and that makes her my family." Blair was firm with this standing. "Don't make the mistake and pushing Quinn out of her life because you never know how long either of you will be around. That girl down there is your _daughter_. She's scared out of her mind and just wants to know that someone loves her – that _you_ love her. If you can't love her through the thick and the thin then perhaps you didn't love her at all." She looked at Mr Fabray, and Mrs Fabray who joined them in the hall, with disgust before going back downstairs.

Liam pointed towards Blair, saying, "What she said," and started going down the stairs but stopped long enough to say, "As long as Quinn's not welcome here, neither am I."

Mr Fabray clenched his fists as he watched his son go and slam the front door behind him.

* * *

After what happened that weekend the Glee club didn't want to wait to give their present to Quinn and Finn. Once they were brought to the choir room, Mr Schue informed the pair that their fellow Glee clubbers had a ballad they would like to sing to them to express how they feel.

The opening bars for 'Lean On Me' began to play and before long the entire Glee club sang it to Quinn and Finn to let them know that no matter what, they would always be there for them. Because that's what they felt – No matter what, the thick or the thin, they were they for each other always.

Blair felt that to be true. She didn't think anything could break up or destroy what they all had with each other. While each relationship was different with each person, it didn't matter. They were all connected and it was a bond they could understand.

When the song came to its end, Blair and the others pulled Finn and Quinn into a group hug and didn't let go until someone groaned that they couldn't breathe. Just as they were pulling apart, the bell rang so they had to get to class.

As Blair grabbed her backpack, Rachel came over to say, "You were right, Blair. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before, but you were right."

Blair wasn't expecting that. "I know I'm always the best at making my point, but that doesn't mean I don't care. You are my friend Rachel, but I'm not going to change into the kind of friend you think I should be. This insanity is who I am, reality checks and all."

Rachel knew that too and accepted it. "I know and for the record I wouldn't change you." She linked arms with Blair and walked out of the room together. "I may not like you every once and awhile but I wouldn't change you."

Blair couldn't help herself but to take a jab. "We have that in common. There are times I don't like you either." When Rachel rolled her eyes at that, Blair laughed and Rachel couldn't help but laugh along with her.

* * *

When lunch period rolled around, Blair wasn't at her normal eating location of the outdoor stairwell with Liam. Instead they were in the Auditorium because Blair wanted him to hear her ballad.

Blair sat on the piano bench and set up the sheet music. "Don't make fun of me for this pick. I got inspired at the last minute."

Liam sat beside her on the bench and grinned teasingly, "No promises."

She was about to start playing the keys but she wanted to check in first. "Your parents still won't let Quinn come home?" Blair was worried about her and Liam.

Liam shook his head. "No. Our father gave us a half hour to pack and then we left. Finn's mom is letting us stay there until something else comes along." He didn't want to talk about this anymore so he gestured to the piano. "You called this meeting. Hop to it!"

Blair rolled her eyes then started playing the intro to 'I'll Be There For You – the FRIENDS theme-song'. She didn't get through it because Liam put his hands on hers. "Problem?"

"Did you know what song I picked for you?" Liam needed to know this.

Blair shook her head. "No…" she raised her brow, "…Why?"

Liam used both hands to point to the piano keys. "Because I picked this exact same song."

Blair didn't believe him for a second. "You did not."

Liam darted off his seat and went to his backpack. He pulled out the CD, put it in the player, and hit play. A moment later the music for the FRIENDS theme started to play.

Blair laughed because she couldn't believe it. "No way."

Liam hit pause with a laugh of his own. "I know the lyrics aren't perfect, but the…"

Blair finished his sentence with what she thought, "The gist is perfect."

That was exactly what Liam was thinking and he got an idea. "What to sing it as a duet?"

Blair was down with that. "Oh, absolutely."

Liam restarted the music and the two of them just had fun with it as they sang together, not realizing that they were being watched by a jealous Puck in balcony seat.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 10


	11. Friday

Blair sat at the kitchen island munching on breakfast when Sue came in to make one of her protein drinks. "Morning," was her generic greeting between mouthfuls as she flipped through the 'Splits Magazine' article about Sue.

"I believe you meant to say _good_ morning," Sue answered with a bit more cheerfulness than usual. "And yes, Blair, it most certainly is."

Blair paused mid-page flip and looked at her oddly. "Someone woke up on the right side of the bed this morning."

Sue didn't say anything to this and just added the ingredients to the blender. "Sectionals is coming up. Know who you're going to be competing against?"

Blair answered this question because it didn't seem to be that big of a deal. "I think they're called Jane Adams Academy and Holdenbrook School for the Deaf – or something like that. Why?"

Sue put the lid on the blender. "Just curious." She turned it on the highest setting to tune out anything Blair might be asking next.

Blair had too much on her mind to worry about what Sue was up to, so she let it slide. "Whatever." She brought her dishes to the sink and set them inside. When Sue turned off the blender, she said, "We're going to kick their butts anyway. Our set list highlights what we do best, so I'm not worried."

Sue noticed this instantly. "Getting a bit complacent, are we?"

Blair shrugged a bit. "Call it what you like. I want to hit the bookstore before school so I'll see you later." She grabbed her backpack and left with a quick wave to Sue.

Sue poured her protein drink into her glass as gears turned in her mind. The idea of Blair getting complacent did not sit well with her at all. Complacency would lead to boredom and boredom would lead to wandering thoughts which could lead Blair down a dark road again. Glee club was the distraction Blair needed to keep her thoughts off everything bad in her life. If it wasn't doing its job anymore then Sue just might have to mix it up a bit.

* * *

Blair walked down the hallway at school with a paper tote bag in hand. Its contents were what she wanted to buy before school – a gift for Quinn. She found Quinn at her locker and held the bag out to her. "This is for you."

Quinn wasn't sure what to make of this. "Is it going to explode on me?" She was kidding.

"Did we become enemies and I didn't notice?" Blair joked back. "Just open it."

Quinn took the bag and pulled out the contents. There were three maternity shirts a pair of maternity pants with it. "Blair…"

"It's not much but it's a start. And I signed you up for the rewards program at 'Rock-a-by Maternity' so you get a discount card that builds up rewards points for free stuff you might need." Blair handed the card over with a supportive smile.

Quinn couldn't believe how generous Blair was being and it was making her feel really guilty about trying to get Liam to break them up so Puck would be free to try thing with again. Not to mention the fact that Blair still had no idea that Puck was the father. "Why are you doing this?"

"We're friends…sort of," Blair laughed because she wasn't quite sure what they were, but still. "And I look after my friends. Even my 'sort of' ones. It's just what I do."

Quinn was starting to tear up as she put the clothes back into the bag and hugged Blair. "Thank you."

Blair was not prepared for the hug so it took her by surprise, but she finally kicked into gear and hugged her back. "Can we stop now? This feels awkward."

Quinn laughed because she actually felt the same way and pulled back from the hug. "Thank you again, Blair. This means a lot to me."

"Whatever you need, I'll do my best to help. Like I said, I look out for my friends. Speaking of – I heard Liam got food poisoning. There's some ginger ale and crackers in the bag, too. Those are kinda for both of you." The bell rang so they had to get to class now. "Later, Quinn." Blair gave her a bit of a salute wave and headed down the hall.

Quinn was putting the bag in her locker when Puck came over, asking, "What was that about?"

"Blair gave me some maternity clothes," Quinn answered without looking at him. "She looks out for her friends, you know."

Puck scoffed. "You're not her friend. Stay away from her."

Quinn's face hardened when he said that. "You want me to stay away from Blair but you don't want to stay away from me?"

"This is confusing for me," Puck admitted quietly, despite the fact there wasn't anyone around. "You're having my kid. It's messing with my head, but no matter what I'm not leaving Blair. She's never to know I'm the father."

"You think this isn't confusing for me?" Quinn shot back. "As much as I love Finn, you're the baby's father, you said it yourself. And there is a big part of me that wants to know what it'd be like if I gave you a real chance."

Puck shook his head because this was something he didn't want to hear. "Don't say that to me. Don't you dare. You knew how I felt about you and you ran into Finn's arms anyway. I'm with Blair, I love her, and you are not going to screw up what I have with her."

Quinn didn't think about what her words would truly mean but she said them anyway, "Even if I tell you I want to keep the baby after all?"

Puck didn't get the chance to answer that because a teacher appeared in the hall telling them both to get their butts to class.

* * *

"I'm free!" Blair exclaimed with a fist pump to the air as she walked out of the doctor's office during lunch period because her cast was _finally_ off.

Finn had gone with her for this because he had something he wanted to talk to her about without anyone else from school being around. He stood up from his seat in the waiting room and chuckled, "I don't know. I was kinda liking the purple arm."

Blair patted her bag proudly. "They let me keep it. Signatures and dirty jokes and all." She had no idea that Puck had written a dirty joke on there until she happened to see it in the mirror one day. Blair nudged him a bit as they went outside. "So you gonna spill it or what? I know you didn't tag along for the moral support and the bus ride."

"Uhm…I'm going over to Rachel's house on Friday. She's going to help me with this new hairography stuff." Finn cleared his throat as he sat on the bench. "Quinn was fine with it, which is kinda weird, and I guess I wanted to talk to you about it because you're so blunt and realistic and stuff."

Blair sat on the bus stop bench beside Finn, bent her knee to rest her foot on it, and wrapped her arms around her leg. "Firstly, I think Mr Schue having us do this hair stuff is stupid and a distraction and it takes away from what we are as a Glee club. I know that's not what you wanted to talk about, but I had to say it." Now she got to the matter at hand. "Are you asking me if I think it's a good idea for you to be going to Rachel's house when you clearly feel something for her while you have a pregnant girlfriend who is weirdly okay with you doing it?"

Finn's eyes widened because he couldn't believe she had gotten all that out in one breath. "Yeah, pretty much."

Blair popped her lips in thought. "Well…I guess all I have to say about that is – If you feel like you're doing something wrong don't do it. Quinn trusts you, so that's probably why she isn't concerned about it, but if you don't feel right about it that's your own call."

Finn nodded as he thought about it because Blair had a pretty good point. Finally, he came to a decision. "I'm going to cancel Rachel." He nodded affirmatively before asking Blair, "You want to go bowling on Friday?"

"Sure," Blair replied as the bus pulled up. "Puck and I don't have any plans so I'm in."

* * *

"How could you!" Rachel shouted at Blair in the hall later that day at school. Her tone was more hushed wen she caught up with Blair. "You know how I feel about Finn and when I finally get a chance to spend some alone time with him you swoop in and take him for yourself?! You already have Puck as your boyfriend and Liam swooning over you. Do you need to have Finn, too?"

Blair was taken completely aback by this. "Whoa, back up, Berry. Finn has a girlfriend – a _pregnant_ girlfriend, so you shouldn't be trying to hook up with him no matter what you feel. And Finn is my friend, we hang out a lot so it's nothing new. And you're right, Puck is my boyfriend and I don't cheat on who I'm dating. As far as Liam swooning over me, you need to get some glasses because that is so not the case. He's my friend."

Rachel crossed her arms because she was really upset about all this. "I'm not trying to hook up with Finn. I just wanted him to see that we could be together if he wanted us to be. And don't even try to say Liam doesn't like you, because he does. He's liked you even before Glee, everyone knows that."

"If Finn wanted to be with you then he'd find a way to make it work. Clearly it's not what he wants." Blair stopped walking and stepped in front of Rachel. "For the record, I don't care what anyone thinks they know. Liam is my friend and only my friend, just like Finn. End of story."

Rachel's posture straightened a bit smugly. "So if I asked Liam out on a date, you wouldn't mind?"

"If you _actually_ like Liam, then go for it. But if you're doing it as a consolation for not being with Finn then don't." That's all Blair had to say about that. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going to class." She turned the corner before Rachel could get out another word.

Rachel was left standing there fuming because she was jealous at the fact that Finn wanted to spend more time with Blair than her.

* * *

During the test in Spanish class, Puck leaned over and whispered to Blair who was sitting beside him, "I thought we had plans on Friday."

Blair flipped her test over because she was already done with it and whispered back, "We did? I don't remember making plans."

"We _always_ hang out on Friday night," Puck countered.

"When we make a plan we do," Blair retorted. "I'm just going bowling with Finn. It's not the first time. I think we can handle one Friday apart."

Puck felt a bit weird about this. "Is this because Quinn is babysitting on Friday?"

"That's probably why Finn's free." Blair didn't understand the point of continuing the conversation. "It's not a big deal, Puck. Let it go."

Finally Mr Schue realized they were whispering and called out to them, "No talking during the test."

Blair picked up her test and bag and went to Mr Schue's desk, saying, "It's fine. I'm done anyway." Since they were free to go to free period once tests were over, Blair put her completed one in the box and did just that.

Even though Puck wasn't done with his test, he brought it to the front, put it in the box, and went after Blair. "Hey, wait up."

Blair stopped and gestured back to the classroom. "You know you just failed that test, right?"

Puck didn't care about that. "What if I told you I didn't want you going bowling with Finn on Friday?"

"I would say that you're being jealous and worrying over nothing and that he's my friend so I'm gonna go." Blair really couldn't make herself clearer than that.

"So I could hang out with another girl and you wouldn't care?" Puck was testing something there.

"If she was your friend then I wouldn't care about you guys hanging out." Blair meant that. "Puck, I'm getting tired of constantly having conversations like this. If you're trying to push my buttons to get me to break up with you then just rip off the band-aid and break up with me yourself. Because I'm not going to stop hanging out with my friends just like I'm not going to leave you for any of them."

"I don't want us to break up," Puck made himself abundantly clear about that. "But I don't like you hanging out with the guys."

"I'm sorry about that, but they're my friends so I'm not going to stop spending time with them. You need to start trusting me like I trust you." Blair gave him a quick peck on the cheek just because. "Hang out with one of your friends or something on Friday. You deserve some fun outside of our dates, too." She turned him around and pushed him back to the classroom. "Now get your butt back in there and ask Mr Schue to let you finish the test."

"Alright, alright," Puck chuckled but didn't go right into the room. Once Blair turned the corner out of sight, Puck pulled out his cellphone. He had no logical explanation for what he was doing but he texted Quinn asking if she wanted any help with babysitting on Friday.

* * *

Friday night rolled around and Blair went to the bowling alley with Finn. She rolled another ball down the lane and knocked down all the pins _again_. "Strike! Yeah, baby, I am the champion!"

Finn laughed at the happy dance she did on the way back to her seat. "I think we need to find something different for us to do. I don't think my ego can handle getting it's ass kicked much more."

"Oh, I think it can handle a little more damage," Blair teased as Finn grabbed his bowling ball. Just when he was about to roll it down the lane, she called out, "Don't miss!" which distracted him and made him throw it right in the gutter.

Finn couldn't believe she just did that. "Seriously? Did you seriously just do that?"

"Oh, I seriously just did," Blair grinned back with teasing laughter.

"That's cheating," he said in a playful yet accusatory manner.

"No," Blair countered, "it's distracting. Not my fault you can't keep focus." She kept her mouth quiet when he took the next shot and hit a few pins. "How's Liam doing?"

"Still sick," Finn replied as he returned to his seat. "My mom took him to the doctor and it turns out he's got a stomach bug and not food poisoning so now he's pretty much quarantined in the extra bedroom to keep him away from Quinn."

Blair winced a bit. "Hope he feels better soon. I miss our stairwell lunches. Eating with you and Quinn at a table just feels weird."

"I think you're the weird one," Finn joked, which resulted in him getting backhanded by Blair as she went up to grab her ball. When he was about to throw it down the lane, he called out, "What's that?!" but it didn't work, she got yet another strike. Finn threw his hands up in the air with a, "Come on!"

"Like I said," Blair beamed smugly, "it's not my fault that _you_ can't keep focus."

Finn's laughter died down a bit as his mind went somewhere he didn't expect it to, but quickly changed lanes – no pun intended.

* * *

On Monday at school, Quinn went to Puck's locker to talk to him before class. She was smiling a bit because of how well things went on Friday with the babysitting. They actually became a team and took care of the three little monsters they were looking after. It gave Quinn hope to a possibly future. "Hey, I wanted to talk to you." She looked down meekly before meeting his eyes. "I've decided to break up with Finn."

Puck froze when he heard what she said. "Why would you do that?"

Quinn thought they were on the same page. "So we can give this a real try."

"What gave you the idea I wanted that?" Puck didn't want that, at all.

Quinn was starting to get frustrated with him. "You're the one who came to babysit with me on Friday. We were a team. We can do this."

Puck closed his locker and looked right at Quinn. "Friday was a mistake. I never should have gone with you. Blair and I were going through a thing and I wanted to feel like I was leveling the playing field or something but I hated it." He sighed, saying, "Look, Quinn, if you want to keep the baby that's your call. If you want me to have a role in the kid's life then I will and I'll be damn good at it, but I'm not going to leave Blair to do it."

Quinn didn't really get it until that moment. "You're never going to leave her, are you?"

Puck shook his head. "Not if I can help it. No."

Quinn walked away, doing her best not to cry, and made the decision once and for all that she wasn't going to keep the baby. Her baby needed two parents that would love her and be devoted to her and that was something that, while Quinn was willing to give…Puck wasn't.

Quinn turned the corner of the hall and almost walked right into Blair. "Sorry." She was crying at this point and couldn't deal with Blair, especially not like this.

Blair could easily see that something was wrong. "Whoa, Quinn, what happened?"

Quinn couldn't tell Blair the truth because that would mean the whole truth would be out and she didn't want that. Especially since if things weren't going to work out with Puck then she wanted to go back to trying to make it work with Finn. None of this could be said to Blair, so she came up with something on the spot. "Am I losing Finn to you? Is he falling for you?"

Blair had no idea where this was coming from. "What? No. Oh my god, Quinn, no way. Finn loves you. Is this because we went bowling together?"

Quinn nodded with tears in her eyes. "He told me he was going over to Rachel's for help with the hair stuff and then he tells me plans changed and he's spending time with you. He was willing to give up help on something he was struggling with to be with you. What was I supposed to think?"

Blair felt horrible in that moment because she had no idea Quinn was feeling this way and felt even more horrible because Puck was expressing similar concerns and brushed it off. "I'm sorry, Quinn. I'm so sorry you took it like that. It's not the case, I swear. Finn is yours and yours alone." She hugged Quinn and after a moment, Quinn hugged her back.

"Thank you for telling me this," Quinn said as they pulled apart. "I feel better now." Without another word, she headed for class.

Blair continued in the direction she was going and soon found Puck. "I'm sorry," was the first thing she said to him. "I pushed aside what you felt because I didn't think it was a big deal and I'm sorry. I should have taken the time to see things from your perspective and…"

Puck cut her off there. "It's fine, really." He took her hands in his. "I trust you, Blair. Completely. It's all good."

Blair was relieved to hear that and kissed him with a smile. "Good. Because, as you know, I love you."

"I love you, too." Puck held onto her hand as they headed for class, believing that because they loved each other that nothing could ever take away what they had. As long as Blair never found out the truth. Yeah, as long as that never happened. Even Puck was smart enough to know that was a deal-breaker, which was why he never intended for her to ever find out. Ever.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 11


	12. Filler Episode

**A/N: Hey, Readers! Sorry for the shortness of this 'Episode'. I was honestly going to skip over it and write the next one but it would have thrown things off, so I'm gonna call this the 'Filler Episode'. I promise the next one will be far better. Thanks for reading!**

* * *

When Sue exited her bedroom that morning, she was greeted by a bright flash coming from Blair's camera. "What the devil are you doing?"

Blair lowered her camera with a grin. "I need to finish taking the candids for the yearbook. And since you look _stunning_ first thing in the morning, it was a moment I had to capture." She took another picture for good measure.

Sue looked at Blair like she was about to explode. "If _any_ of those end up in the yearbook…"

Blair cut Sue's threat short. "I'm just kidding, Sue. See?" She turned the digital camera around to show her that the pictures were deleted.

"I almost forgot you joined the yearbook club," Sue stated as she went to the kitchen for some breakfast.

"It's not like a bring it up," Blair answered as she followed her. "Especially around Rachel. If she knew then she'd bug me incessantly with photo requests. She'll just have to settle with the Glee photo this year."

"There is no Glee photo this year." Sue set a bowl of cereal in front of Blair. "Since the Glee Club's yearbook photo always gets vandalized, Figgins made the decision to leave it out."

Blair's shoulders slumped a bit at that. "Seriously? There was never any yearbook vandalism at my old school. Damn, that sucks. I was looking forward to that picture."

"Language, Blair." Sue sat across from Blair at the table with her own breakfast. "You know, if you joined the Cheerios you would be featured in at least one of the six pages dedicated to them."

Blair looked at Sue with a stoic expression as she took a bite of cereal. "It's not being in the yearbook that I was looking forward to, it was being in the yearbook with Glee." She sighed a bit and slouched in her seat.

Sue had a momentary lapse in her evil ways when she suggested something, "Use your candids. If Glee can't have an official picture then slip in as many Glee candids as you can."

Blair thought that was a great idea and it meant a lot to her that Sue was the one who suggested it. "That is an awesome idea!" She loved it so much that she got out of her chair and hugged Sue for it. "Thank you!"

Sue pushed Blair off a bit. "Okay, enough with this mushy stuff and finish your breakfast."

Blair stood up straight, saluted Sue, and returned to her breakfast. She couldn't wait to get to school now and get to work on the candids.

* * *

With her camera in hand, Blair walked down the hall of McKinley High looking for her Gleemates. Whenever she spotted any together, she'd discreetly snap pictures of them talking and laughing. Blair thought these were going to come out awesome.

"Are you a stalker now?" Liam joked from behind Blair, making her jump out of her skin.

"I'm really getting sick of being scared so easily." Blair held her camera up, saying, "And I'm not being stalker-ish. I am taking candid photos of the Glee Club since we can't have a picture in the yearbook." Ever since her conversation with Sue, she was starting to feel like a broken record about the yearbook picture, but oh well.

"Given how badly those pictures have been treated over the years, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone was relieved that we aren't getting one." Liam didn't want Quinn to be put through any more crap than what she'd already gone through so he was fine with there being no club photo.

"I'm still getting used to all this petty high school childishness," Blair stated as she took a picture of Liam when he turned his head to look at something. "Never had to go through it at my old school."

"Maybe you never had to go through it," Liam countered, "but that doesn't mean others didn't."

Blair snapped another picture before a thoughtful look crossed her expression. "Huh, you may have a point there. Key word being 'may' because I'm fairly certain I'd have heard about it or witnessed it. Small school in a small town. Someone would have to work pretty damn hard at keeping a secret from the rest of the school."

Liam changed the subject when he took the camera from her. "Go be candid so there can be a few shots of you in the mix." He smiled when Blair didn't put up a fight about it and went down the hall to talk to Kurt and Mercedes and then Mike when he joined them. Someone must have said something funny because they were all laughing. Liam took the picture at just the right moment, at least he thought so. When he looked back at the picture with Blair laughing, he thought she looked radiant.

A few more pictures later, Blair returned to take back her camera. "Any good ones?"

Liam joked with her, acting like he'd completely forgotten to take any. "Crap, sorry, I was looking through the ones you already took and got sidetracked."

"Liam!" She scolded with laughter but saw he was messing with her when she got the camera back. "Wow, Liam. You're a riot."

"I have my moments." Liam winked at her before heading to class.

Blair shook her head and went off to her own before the late bell rang.

* * *

Mr Schue wasn't as relieved at the majority of Glee Club was about there not being a picture. Even with the candids being in it, he felt there should be a photo to officially represent the club. After a chat with Mr Figgins he was able to buy some ad space for a picture, but unfortunately there would only be enough space for two members so he announced they needed to vote for co-captains.

The vote didn't go as planned because everyone voted for Rachel to represent the Club and the majority of the members felt there didn't need to be a co-captain to represent them so that ended the voting. While all this was going on, Blair was taking pictures and either they didn't notice her doing it or they just didn't care.

Mr Schue cared, though. He didn't like the idea that the club still seemed to be embarrassed by the fact they were in it, so he encouraged Rachel to find a co-captain.

After _many_ noes, Rachel convinced Finn to be her co-captain but unfortunately he bailed when it came time to take the picture.

Blair saw this first hand because she thought it would be interesting to take their picture while the official one was being taken. Her brow furrowed a bit when she find Finn wasn't in the room where the photography stuff was set up.

Rachel noticed Blair come into the room and looked at her with such relief. "Oh, Blair, thank goodness. Finn is a no-show. Will you please take the picture with me? I'm sorry I didn't ask you before and I realize I should have now because you love Glee as much as I do and…"

Blair cut her off there, "Sure."

Rachel's face beamed. "Really? You mean it?"

Blair nodded, "I mean it." She set her camera down on the table and after Rachel made a couple hair adjustments to Blair's person, they sat down on the stools. Blair and Rachel sat back to back and smiled when the picture was taken.

The photographer took a couple shots and felt that was the end of it, but Rachel had other ideas. He cut through her requests of more pictures by telling her that he had to get to a casting session for his brother-in-law's commercial.

Blair saw how Rachel lit up at the mention of that so she snagged her camera and took pictures, tuning out the conversation, but was pulled into it when Rachel said,

"It's a great idea, right Blair?"

Blair lowered her camera with a, "Huh?"

Rachel sighed quickly since it was clear that Blair hadn't been paying any attention. "Glee club in a mattress commercial, yay or nay?"

Blair thought that would be awesome, so she instantly answered with, "Hell, yeah."

* * *

The commercial went great, they sang 'Jump' and did gymnastic feats and dance moves on the bouncy mattresses, and everyone had a great time. More importantly, they were united as a team. That was something that seemed to be missing lately but doing that commercial all together it was like they got their mojo back.

The first night the commercial was to air, Blair was all ready to watch it and smiled wide as she looked between the clock and the TV.

Sue sat on the sofa beside Blair and looked at her a bit suspiciously. "What's going on, Blair?"

"You'll see," Blair turned up the volume when the commercial started playing. "Here it is!"

Sue turned to the TV and her eyes widened at the sight because she had no idea Blair had been a part of this, yet alone the Glee club.

When the commercial ended, Blair turned off the TV, asking happily, "What did you think?"

"Rachel is annoying as ever, but it was nice seeing you using your gymnastics skills." Sue's face scrunched up a bit in thought because her gears were turning.

Blair's posture slumped a little bit because she had a feeling that something that was wrong. "There's a but, isn't there?"

Sue nodded a with pursed lips. "Did you get paid for that commercial?"

Blair wasn't expecting that question. "Uhm, no. Not with money, anyway. They're gonna be giving us a mattress each for doing it. Why?"

Sue sighed with a shake of her head. "You and your Glee friends really stepped it in, Blair."

Okay, now Blair was starting to worry. "What are you talking about?"

"It's in the show choir rule book, Blair. If you perform and get paid for it then you're no longer an amateur and that disqualifies you from competition." Sue got up, pulled the rule book off the bookcase, and handed it to Blair. "I'm not making it up."

Blair took the book and flipped to the appropriate page based on the table of contents and her face dropped a million miles when she saw the words written there. "No…no. That – that's not right. We didn't know about this."

"Knew about it or not, it doesn't change anything." Sue took the book from Blair and set it on the coffee table.

Blair couldn't believe this was happening. She shook her head, refusing to accept it. "No. We are not going down like this. I'm going to find a loophole." Blair got up with determination, "I am not giving up without a fight."

Sue leaned back into the sofa with a proud smile on her face as Blair went off to her room already in the process of making phone calls. She caught a glimpse of the fire she knew Blair had inside and couldn't wait to see her finally unleash it.

* * *

Blair did find a loophole, but it wasn't a great one. If Mr Schue accepted the mattresses instead of the individual Glee members then only Mr Schue would be disqualified from Sectionals and not the entire club.

Mr Schue was more than willing to take the bullet for them and at the kids' doubt that they wouldn't be able to do it without them, he told them that if they couldn't then he wasn't doing his job right. Mr Schue told them that teachers have to prepare their students for going out in the world without them. He had complete faith in his kids and made damn sure they knew that.

During this entire speech, Blair captured it all. It was one of the featured candid photos that Blair didn't have to sneak in but place on the Glee Club's own page in the yearbook since – for some reason Blair didn't know of – Sue gave up one of the Cheerios pages. In the center of the page was the group photo of the Glee kids and all around it were the smaller candid pictures.

As Blair held the finished product in her hand and smiled with pride because, even if all the others did get vandalized hers would not, and knowing that a part of her would forever be in this Reality meant more than she could even put into words.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 12


	13. Never Again

_**A/N: TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS 'EPISODE' – SELF-HARM, (ATTEMPTED) SUICIDE**_

* * *

Kurt , Mercedes, Tina, and Artie were waiting in the choir room for the new faculty advisor for Sectionals. But apparently Mr Schue hadn't assigned anyone yet so they were just talking about nothing in particular. That was until Rachel came in and asked them if they thought it was weird how the previous day Puck rushed to Quinn's aid when she slipped on the floor and asked about the baby.

None of them answered her about that and were glad she claimed to be a psychic so they used that as a quick getaway. It wasn't until they were out in the hall, and away from the choir room, that they discussed this.

"Rachel can't figure out the truth," Kurt couldn't put more emphasis on that if he tried.

Mercedes, who knew the truth and told Kurt, Artie, Santana, Brittany, and Tina, couldn't agree more. "If Rachel figures it out, you know she's going to tell Finn _and_ Blair. So many lives will blow up."

"Blair will be crushed," Tina said worriedly. "She really loves Puck."

Kurt cut into all their worries to say, "We just have to make sure Rachel doesn't figure it out or if she does, she doesn't say a word about it." He pointed to Mercedes. "You loop in Brittany and Santana. We need to have a meeting about how to keep Rachel's mouth shut about this. If only we could lock her up until after Sectionals." He sighed heavily, "Damn her talent."

"Are we complaining about Rachel again?" Blair asked as she linked arms with Kurt as they walked, only having heard 'damn her talent'.

"Don't we always?" Artie answered with nervous laughter because he was afraid that she heard them talking.

"Point taken." She spotted Puck down the hall and said, "Gotta go, catch you guys later." Blair gave Kurt a friendly peck on the cheek and sprinted down to Puck's locker.

The little group stopped walking and watched as Blair went up behind Puck and placed her hands over his eyes before they both laughed as he turned around then kissed her. Mercedes voiced what they were all thinking. "Damn, we _have_ to make sure Rachel doesn't blow up their world."

The rest of them nodded in agreement before going their separate ways to class.

* * *

Blair sat down next to Liam at the next Glee rehearsal and handed him a folded up piece of paper with an impish grin on her face.

Liam eyed Blair a bit suspiciously as he took it from her. "What's this?" When she didn't answer and kept on smiling, he unfolded. "Seriously?" he laughed, "A coupon for five cents off grapes?"

"I thought you could put it to good use." Blair smiled wide then turned her attention to the front of the room when Mr Schue entered with Miss Pillsbury.

Mr Schue addressed the club once they were all sitting. "Well, I have found my replacement. So give it up for Miss Pillsbury."

Santana wasn't impressed by this decision. "So, do you even know anything about music?"

Before Miss Pillsbury could answer, Mr Schue interjected with, "What's important is that she cares about you guys every bit as much as I do. Now…I don't know what the future holds for me, and for us, but I know, Saturday, you're going to make me proud. You guys are going to be great. So…goodbye for now."

"Wait, what about our set list?" Mercedes wanted to know.

"I can't help you with that," Mr Schue regrettably informed them. "You've got to figure that out for yourselves. Alright, uhm, see you around."

As soon as Mr Schue left the room, Artie said, "We have to do 'Proud Mary' in wheelchairs. That's in."

"And 'Don't Stop Believing' for sure," Finn added in.

"What about the ballad?" Blair asked curiously and rolled her eyes when Rachel jumped right up to sing one from her repertoire.

Mercedes had enough and after making it clear that she'd worked just as hard as Rachel and was just as good, Miss Pillsbury told Rachel to let Mercedes try. Upon hearing that, Mercedes looked at Rachel with a smug expression, told the band what song, and began signing 'And I am telling you I'm not going'.

Blair and the others thought Mercedes killed it and she stood up to clap because, damn, Mercedes had skills. She wouldn't have cheered but was afraid that it'd mess up the song and that was the last thing she wanted to do, so Blair used her body to express what she felt about it.

At the end of song, Blair whooped and clapped some more as they all cheered. She was worried about what Rachel was going to say because Blair didn't want anyone or anything to ruin that moment. To her surprise, though, Rachel told Mercedes that she couldn't wait to see her sing that song at Sectionals.

Upon hearing that, Blair dropped into her chair, saying, "Holy crap. I think we just witnessed a miracle."

No one, not even Rachel, could disagree with her on that.

* * *

Since it was free period after Glee rehearsal, most of the club stayed behind in the choir room so they could work on some stuff. Liam, Finn, and Rachel left to get stuff from their lockers so they weren't practicing with them, but soon they did return. Only…it wasn't for practice.

Finn stormed into the room and punched Puck the second he saw him. Before Puck could do anything about it, Liam went up behind him to hold Puck still so Finn could ream into him without issue.

"What the hell?!" Blair shouted and pulled Finn away from Puck and kept him pushed back. "What are you doing?!"

"He's lying to me! To you! They both are!" Finn charged at Puck again but was stopped by Blair once more.

"What are you talking about?!" Blair shouted, feeling so confused and pissed that he and Liam went after Puck like that.

"Tell the truth!" Finn shouted to both Quinn and Puck. "We deserve to know the truth!"

Quinn started sobbing as she admitted, "It's true. Puck's the father of my baby."

Blair froze as soon as she heard that, but she didn't believe it. "That's not true." She turned around and repeated, "That's not true," but as soon as she looked into Puck's eyes, she knew that it was.

Liam had let go of Puck and stepped back because he had no doubt that Blair would pick up where they left off and she didn't need any help in that department.

Puck was fully ready to accept the punch that he knew would be coming from her, but he had to say something first. "Blair, I'm sorry…"

Blair looked at Puck without a word, without a motion, without…anything. Something broke inside her and she just looked at him as tears started to pool in her eyes before they streamed down her face.

Seeing Blair like that hurt Puck far more than any kind of punch could have. Before he could say or do anything, Blair ran out of the room like a bat out of hell. He was going to go after her but was whipped around and punched right in the face by Liam.

"I told you if you did anything to hurt her I'd kill you." He punched Puck in the stomach. "I keep my word." Liam was going to punch him again but Mr Schue intervened.

Meanwhile Blair ran down the hall until she couldn't run any longer. She didn't feel like she got very far before she leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor. Blair pulled her knees to her chest and sobbed until suddenly she just stopped as her mind took her to a very dark place…

* * *

Blair walked into her bedroom, dragging a chair from the kitchen table behind her. After closing the door, she jammed the chair under the knob and went to her bureau. Blair pulled out one of the drawers and felt underneath it to remove the razor blade that was taped there. She kept it there to prove to herself that she didn't need to cut but after what happened…that was all Blair could think about.

Blair closed the drawer and sat on the floor. She pushed up the sleeves of her purple fishnet shirt and peeled off the last of the tape from the razor. She poised it over her arm but froze. Another idea came to mind – and idea that made her feel like it would solve all her problems in this Reality. She slowly brought the blade down to her wrist and pressed down before sliding it upwards, deeply slicing as she did.

Blair sobbed and cried out as she did this, but it didn't stop her – nothing could stop her. While she had the strength, she sliced upwards on her other wrist as far as she could go then just sat there. She closed her eyes as the tears streamed down her face, dripping onto the blood that poured from her arms placed in front of her.

The thoughts 'Never again' went through her mind. She would never feel this kind of pain or betrayal in this Reality ever again. She would never feel anything again.

* * *

Blair was pulled from these dark thoughts when Kurt crouched down in front of her in the school's hallway and took her hands. He'd been trying to get her attention and finally it seemed like he did.

"Blair?" Kurt looked at her with such worry. He was afraid she was going to do something to herself because of what happened. "Blair, what – what can I do?"

Blair looked at her Kurt and found her voice, though it was broken. "I – I don't think I should be alone right now."

Kurt didn't need to hear anything. "You're not going to be." He helped Blair to her feet and hugged her as she cried. "I got you." He looked over at Mercedes and Mike that came out to check on her, too. "We've got you."

* * *

Blair sat in Kurt's basement, curled up on the sofa next to Tina. In fact, her head was resting on Tina's lap. She felt so numb that she didn't even feel Tina stroking her hair in a comforting manner.

Mercedes put a final thing that could be used a sharp into a box and handed it to Mike. "That should be the last of the stuff she could use if she manages to avoid our eye line."

"Shouldn't we call her therapist or Sue or something?" Mike was all for being there for Blair, but he wanted to make sure they were doing the right thing.

"Blair doesn't want us to call anyone," Kurt interjected. "As soon as she says otherwise, that's when we'll call."

Mike accepted that and was about to go upstairs but stopped when he saw who was coming down them – Puck. He set the box aside and crossed his arms to block his path. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up here."

"She doesn't want to see you," Mercedes added in as she stood beside Mike to keep him from coming any further.

Kurt moved over to Blair and sat beside her when she sat up, but didn't look at Puck.

Puck didn't try to push past them as much as he wanted to, but instead spoke loud enough so Blair could hear him. "Blair, I am so sorry. I can't say how sorry I am. And I know you're hurt and you're angry and you probably hate me right now, but please don't hurt yourself, Blair. I can handle you hating me for all time, but I _can't_ handle it if you hurt yourself. Please…don't."

"We've got her." Mike looked at Puck with as much of a menacing face as he could muster.

Puck took the hint and went back up the stairs to leave without another word.

Blair still didn't say anything but she leaned into Kurt and cried all over again.

Kurt hugged Blair tight and hated that she was going through this – they all did. So much for keeping Rachel quiet. They definitely failed on that.

* * *

When Blair finally mustered up her strength to go home, she did. Sue was not too happy with Blair when she walked in. "Where have you been?" Sue demanded to know. "I have been calling you ever since I was told you skipped school! What were you thinking?!" Her words were falling upon deaf ears it seemed because Blair went into her room. Sue was none too happy about this either. "Don't walk away when I am yelling at you." She was about to enter Blair's room to follow her, but was prevented from doing so when Blair came back out of it and tossed something onto the kitchen table.

Sue did a double-take when she saw what it was. She carefully picked up the razor and her heart dropped. "Blair…what…" Sue couldn't even formulate a whole sentence in that moment.

Blair sniffled as she pulled up her sleeves to show Sue she hadn't done anything then cried, "I've had a _really bad day_."

Sue dropped the razor on the table and went straight to Blair to pull her into a hug. She was trying to keep her voice strong when she said, "You didn't cut. Do you have any idea how big a step that is?"

"I wanted to," Blair cried. "I wanted to end it so badly."

Sue pulled back and placed her hands on Blair's shoulders to look her square in the eye. "But you didn't."

Blair found a bit of strength in that and held onto it to no end. "I didn't."

* * *

Saturday rolled around and Blair went onto the bus with the rest of the Glee kids, despite Sue's objections. It took the reassurance of her friends to convince Sue that they'd keep an eye on her. As much as Sue didn't like the Glee club, she knew Blair needed it and didn't try stopping her after her friends showed such loyalty.

Blair sat in the back of the bus far away from Quinn and Puck as possible. She wanted to sit alone but Liam slid onto the seat beside her. Neither of them said a word, but Liam did go into his bag and pull out a container. He popped off the plastic lid and held the container out to Blair because it was full of grapes. "I used the coupon."

Blair laughed lightly with misty eyes when she saw this and took a handful. "Told you it'd come in handy."

Since it made Blair smile, Liam had to say, "It certainly did."

* * *

When they arrived at Sectionals, and even before, morale was certainly low within the club. Finn didn't even come and Blair couldn't blame him. A part of her didn't want to be there either but she felt like she needed to do this. It was a bit of a bummer that they were drawn to go last though…but it was a good thing they did.

Every song on their set list had been used by the two teams that performed before them. Blair had reached her limit of things she could deal with – hell, she'd gone _way_ past her limit of things she could deal with and she couldn't sit by while the other teams performed their songs.

Blair left the auditorium and went out into the waiting area. She started pacing back and forth and felt like she was going to have a panic attack. It didn't help matters when Puck approached her.

"Oh my god," Blair exclaimed. "I cannot deal with you right now, Puck."

Puck stayed far enough away from her but he had to make sure she was okay – at least as okay as she possibly could be. "I'm sorry…"

"Stop saying you're sorry!" Blair shouted at him. "I don't care that you're sorry! You lied to me, Puck! I told you parts about myself that I never talk about. I gave you a piece of my heart and I don't do that lightly and you lied to me! You _betrayed_ me!" She scoffed and continued with her voice breaking, "And not just me. You betrayed Finn, too. I thought I knew you, Puck, but you had me fooled."

"Not everything was a lie," Puck's own voice was breaking. "Just that."

" _Just_ that?" Blair scoffed incredulously.

Puck didn't let that stop him from saying what he had to say. "I loved you, Blair. I still love you. _**That**_ was never a lie. I need you to know that."

Blair crossed her arms and looked away with a sniff before looking back to him. "It doesn't matter. I can forgive a lot of things, but I can't forgive this. In case it wasn't clear before, we are done in every sense of the word. If it was possible, I'd never see you again."

Puck let out a shuddering breath because any hope he had held onto had been shattered in that moment. He truly believed that she would never give him a chance again. Puck had one more thing to say, though. "It happened before you. I never cheated on you, Blair. I doubt that helps but I needed you to know."

Blair walked over to Puck with her arms still crossed and made something clear. "It doesn't help." She walked past him when everyone filed out of the auditorium for intermission. Their performance would be soon coming and Blair had no idea how the hell they were going to perform now, but they had to do something about that.

When she was certain that every Glee member was present – with the exclusion of Finn since he didn't come – Blair stood on a nearby chair and called out, "New Directioners, meeting in the green room in five minutes!"

Liam happened to be near her when she announced that and had to ask, "What are you thinking?"

Blair hopped off the chair and landed right in front of him. "I'm thinking that I'm pissed as hell and I'm not going to lose something I love without a goddamn fight." She was about to say something else but gasped instead when she saw someone walk past.

Liam thought Blair looked as if she saw a ghost. "What is it?"

Blair went into the auditorium and looked around, trying to spot the guy she thought she saw but couldn't find him. "It's insane."

"What is?" Liam wanted to know.

Blair knew she was going to feel stupid for admitting it but did it anyway, "I thought I saw my dad." She didn't have anything else to say about that so she went to the green room to wait for the others.

* * *

During the green room meeting, taking place an hour before they were to perform, it was the consensus that they all thought Sue was the one who leaked the set list. Blair wanted to defend Sue, but found she couldn't and needed to hear it for herself. So while the rest of the club was arguing about this and that, Blair was on her phone.

When Sue answered, Blair came right out with it, "Did you do it? Did you leak the list?"

Sue was quiet for a moment before saying, "You have no proof."

Blair wanted to punch the wall and almost did. "Why would you do that?! You know what, never mind. I don't want to know because I don't care what your twisted reasoning is."

"You sound fired up, that's good." When Sue first leaked the list that was part of her goal.

"You want me on fire? Well you've got what you wanted because I'm not going to let you or anyone else destroy what I love." Blair was going to end it with that but she had one more thing to say. "You know, I've been a wolf for as long as I can remember but I have to thank you for something, Sue. You just turned me into a dragon." With that, Blair forcefully ended the call and rejoined the group.

"Everyone, shut up!" Blair shouted because they were still fighting over who they thought was the one who gave the list to Sue and whatever else. "Fighting is getting us nowhere. We need to come up with a new list and we need to do it now." She looked at Mercedes, "Do you have anything else you can sing?"

Mercedes shook her head. "Nothing as good as that one. As much as I hate to say this, Rachel should sing the ballad. She can belt out anything on the fly."

"I do have something I've been working on since I was four," Rachel meekly offered up – meekly because she was afraid of Blair's wrath. "What do you think?"

Blair pushed her personal feelings aside and nodded. "We've got our ballad. What's next? We need a group one."

"Somebody to love," Quinn and Liam said in accidental unison. Quinn cleared her throat because she and Liam hadn't hardly spoken two words since the reveal. "It's a crowd pleaser."

Blair happened to agree. "It is." She took a deep breath. "Okay, that's two for three. Now what song can we do that'll send us all the way to first place?"

"I have one," Finn answered as he walked into the room with a stack of papers in hand. "I found the sheet music online and used the Cheerios printer to print them out. And then I trashed it." He handed the sheets around. "Mike, Brittany, Jake and Blair you guys are our best dancers. Come up with something and we'll do our best to follow."

"It's gonna be choppy." Mike had to warn him on that.

"I don't see a problem with that," Blair smiled. "We do our best when we're having fun and winging it."

"I was going to say we do our best when we're loose, but that works." Finn smiled because he had faith in this group. "Look, all we've got is our belief in ourselves and what we're singing. If we can show the judges that, then I think we've got a real chance at winning this thing."

Blair went over to Finn and hugged him. "I'm glad you're here."

Finn hugged her back. "Me, too. Now let's get this new set together so we can kick some show choir ass."

Blair touched her nose and pointed at Finn with an 'I got you' expression before going over to the others to put this new plan into action.

* * *

Showtime. The first song of their new set was 'Don't Rain on my Parade' and honestly, Blair thought Rachel killed it – in a good way. In an epically good way. Hell, in that moment Blair was actually a bit jealous of her because it was so good.

When it was their cue, the rest of the club went down the two aisles and made their way to the stage to join the solo Rachel. They took their places on the risers behind her and stood proudly when the song ended and the audience gave them a standing ovation.

Once the audience was seated, the second song of their set began; 'You can't always get what you want'. With their new choreography in place, they danced and sang and let themselves feel it. Blair, especially felt it. Everything bad that she was feeling seemed to melt away and all that was left was the music – the music and the support of her friends around her. It didn't hurt when members of the audience started getting up and dancing along with them, that definitely helped because it ignited a hope she thought had been lost.

Another standing ovation was awarded to them. Perhaps they had a shot at winning this thing after all.

And, well, winning was exactly what they did. When this was announced, they audience stood up and cheered. Liam was so excited that he picked up Blair and spun her around. She laughed happily and once she was back on her feet, she saw who she thought she saw before standing up in the third row. Blair's face froze because that guy looked so much like her father that it was enough for her to do a double take but now that she got a better look at him, it was obvious he was a different person. At least she didn't feel like she was going insane anymore.

Blair was pulled from that thought when Kurt rushed over and hugged her excitedly. The next chance she got to look at the guy, she didn't see him. All she saw was am empty seat where he once was. Not that it mattered though, it was just weird. Oh well, that unimportant thing was pushed to the back of her mind and she enjoyed the good feeling coursing through her – a feeling that she would savor and hold onto in case her mind ever went to that dark place again.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 13

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, Readers. I'm really sorry if this Episode sucked, but thank you for reading. I appreciate it :)  
**


	14. Kai

Blair had been crashing at Kurt's house since Sue got fired from McKinley. She needed some alone time at her condo in Boca, but now she was back. Not just back in Lima, but back at McKinley. Presently Blair was sitting across from Sue at the kitchen table, trying to figure out how that happened.

"So you're saying just after a little dinner with Figgins you managed to convince him to hire you back?" Yeah, Blair wasn't buying it for a second.

"Is that so hard to believe?" Sue smirked and got up from the table to bring her breakfast dishes to the sink.

"With you? Yeah," Blair laughed as she did the same.

Just then there was a knock at the door so Blair sprinted ahead to answer it and see who it was. When she opened it, to say she wasn't expecting who was standing there would have been an understatement. Blair's eyes widened as she saw the guy from Sectionals standing there.

"Two questions – Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" Blair did not believe in coincidences and wanted answers.

Sue heard Blair's greeting to whoever was at the door and joined her there. Seeing who it was caused her face to harden. "Go to your room, Blair."

"You know who this is?" Blair wanted to know.

There was something in the way Blair spoke that made Sue ask, "Do you?"

"Can I say something here?" the man interjected, hoping to get a word in at some point.

"No," Sue and Blair answered together before Sue once again told Blair to go to her room.

Blair rolled her eyes with a scoff and did just that, but made sure to keep the door opened a bit so she could head. It was times like this that she was glad her bedroom was in a close proximity to everything else.

Sue crossed her arms and stood firmly as she looked at the man. "If you're here for the funeral you're a little late, Kai."

Kai Han scoffed incredulously. "I didn't even know there was a funeral to attend until a few weeks ago. I've been out of the country, Sue. And one message – really? You couldn't have put more effort into finding me and letting me know my brother died?"

"Half-brother," Sue corrected. "The half Jae couldn't stand if memory serves right. Which it does since that girl in there doesn't even know who you are."

Kai let that go because he had more important matters to discuss. "She will get ample opportunity to know me seeing as I'm her guardian." He handed over an envelope. "Their will stipulated that you would get custody if there was no other living next of kin. Seeing as I am Jae's brother that makes _me_ the next of kin. I paid a visit to their lawyer and my own for clarification. Blair is to come live with me."

Sue had snatched the paperwork from his hands and read it over as he spoke and by now she was fuming. "Like hell she is. You are _not_ going anywhere with my goddaughter."

"Those legal papers say otherwise." Kai countered. "Jae hated me, and you're honoring him by hating me as well, but so what. Viv didn't hate me which is probably why it wasn't made clear that I was to never be Blair's guardian should anything happen. Feel free to talk to your lawyer but it won't make any difference."

Blair, who had overheard everything, stormed out of her room and started yelling at Kai who was still standing in the doorway. "Like hell it won't! I have no damn clue who you are! You're just the guy I saw in passing at Sectionals and that's it! If my parents wanted me to know about you then they would have told me and newsflash, they didn't. So don't you dare try to uproot my life and get the hell away from me."

Kai wasn't surprised by Blair's outburst, it was a family trait. "I understand this is a lot to digest, Blair, but if I was notified in a timely fashion then you would have already been living with me. Being a father myself, I am far more qualified to be your guardian."

Blair stepped forward with such a force to her person that Kai had to back up or else she would have collided with him. "You don't know shit. I'm not going anywhere with you. You have a problem with that? See you in court!" She stepped back and slammed the door in his face.

She turned around and shouted, "The nerve of that guy! I don't care what genetics say, he is _not_ my family. He's just some stranger trying to take me away from my family!" Blair went straight to her room and slammed the door behind her after declaring that.

Sue was in a bit of shocked awe for more than one reason, but the number was reason was that Blair had referred to her as family.

* * *

Later that day at school, Blair had filled in Finn about the events from earlier that day. She was leaned against his row of lockers as she finished the tale.

Finn was swapping out his books for the classes and needed to shake his head a bit to process the influx of information she had given him. "So you have an uncle you never knew existed who's trying to take you away from Sue? You're not going to leave Lima are you?" He couldn't imagine Blair not being around anymore.

Liam who walked up to them just in time to hear Finn's last question, asked, "You're leaving? Why are you leaving?"

"Not if I can help it." Blair crossed her arms in a determined manner. "Apparently my dad has a brother who I was never told about and since he's technically the next of kin he's got legal rights to being my guardian."

Liam thought for a second then. "Whoa, hold on, is this the same guy you thought looked like your dad at Sectionals?"

When Blair nodded, Finn closed his locker. "So he stalked you?"

"Sounds like it doesn't it?" Blair was getting real tired and stressed out over this entire situation.

Before anyone else could say another word, Rachel came up with a couple of cat calendars in hand. "Hi, Finn, I made us his and hers couple calendars so we always know what the other one is up to and you can't use the excuse of not remembering our dates anymore."

Blair scoffed at how Rachel interrupted their conversation like that and also because of the fact that Finn and Rachel were dating. "When you told me you two were going out I thought you were joking."

"Well that's not a nice thing to say." Rachel was clearly offended.

"Well it's not nice to cut into an important conversation either," Blair shot back.

Finn sided with Blair on this. "Can we talk later, Rachel? We were kinda talking about something pretty important."

To avoid any potential drama, Blair walked off saying, "It's fine, whatever."

Liam went off with her, leaving Finn who looked like his head was being forcefully held under water in his wake.

Blair turned the corner and found Puck talking to Quinn so she turned around and went in the opposite direction. She still hadn't really spoken to Puck or Quinn and would like to keep it that way. It was either fight or flight and she did not have the energy to fight so flight it was.

Liam followed suit and caught up with her. "You got plans after school today?"

"Sue was going to try to get an emergency meeting with her lawyer but if that doesn't happen then nope." Blair looked at him curiously. "Why?"

Liam shrugged a bit innocently. "Thought you might like a distraction."

Blair sure as hell could use one. "I'm game." The bell rang, cutting their conversation short. "See you in class."

Liam smiled because Blair agreed to his outing idea and repeated her words back to her. "See you in class."

* * *

The assignment for that week in Glee was 'Hello'. Mr. Schue they needed new New Directions and thus needed a new 'hello'. So they had to come up with a fresh number as long as 'hello' was in the song title.

Blair had no idea what song she should sing where 'hello' was concerned, especially since she wasn't in much of a 'hello' mood but more in a 'get the hell out of my life' one. That feeling seemed to increase tenfold when after school at the meeting with Sue's lawyer he confirmed that legally Kai Han was Blair's guardian. It wouldn't have been the case if he didn't pursue the logistics of the will, but he did.

Sue swore that as long as it was what Blair wanted, that she wasn't going to let Blair go without a fight. It made Sue grin when Blair told her to give him hell.

Blair was putting up a strong front about all this but it was sending her in a tailspin because in her Reality she knew for a fact that her father was an only child so why did her Alter have an uncle in this Reality? Blair had no idea how to figure that one out and it wasn't like she could talk to anyone about it.

Due to Blair's headspace, she cancelled her distraction plans with Liam because she didn't want to deal with anything. All Blair wanted to do was watch a movie on TV with a hell of a lot of extra-extra buttered popcorn.

Thankfully Sue was happy to oblige and even popped in Stick It so she could commentary on it all over again. No matter how many times they watched that movie Sue always found something new to complain about and Blair loved it every time.

It wasn't until the end of the movie that Blair talked about what was bothering her. "Why didn't he say anything at Sectionals? He just shows up and stays for the performance then vanishes before I leave the stage? What the hell? And why didn't you ever tell me about him either?"

Sue turned off the TV and moved to face her better on the couch. "I can't explain Kai's behavior, I can speculate the hell out of it but I can't explain it. As for not telling you about him, I was respecting you father's wishes. Jae didn't want anything to do with him, he didn't want to talk about him, he didn't want to acknowledge his existence. Your mother and I both obliged, and honestly I forget he existed for awhile. It wasn't until your parents died that I looked up his number and notified. If I thought for a second he would try and take you away I **never** would have called him."

Despite the explanation, Blair was still confused. "I don't understand, Sue. _Why_ didn't dad want anything to do with him? Is it because Kai is Jae's half-brother? So what, they're still brothers."

Sue took a deep breath because she was starting to get a sense of where this was going even if Blair didn't realize it herself. "Do you want to get to know him, Blair?"

Blair was taken aback by that question. "What? No. Just because I want answers doesn't mean I want to know him."

Sue pointed the hole in her logic there. "I don't have all the answers, Blair. If you want more answers then you're gonna have to ask Kai."

Blair crossed her arms and slouched in her seat. "I don't want to ask Kai." An idea suddenly came to her mind. "But if I did…could we use that to our advantage?"

Sue wasn't quite on her thought train yet. "What do you mean?"

"Do you think he'd be willing to trade contact in exchange for letting you stay my guardian?" Blair was willing to deal with a guy she didn't want to know in order to stay with Sue – to stay home.

Sue wasn't expecting to hear that. "Are you sure that's something you want to do? You've been quite adamant about wanting nothing to do with him."

"I don't want anything to do with him but I'd rather give an inch than have a mile forcefully taken away from me." Blair sat up straighter, asking, "You knew he existed so you already know of him better than I do. Think he'd go for it?"

Sue was willing to fight tooth and nail to keep Blair in her custody but hated the fact that Kai had a point – he was a father and Blair's blood-family and Sue wasn't related. Odds were that Kai would win the case and that was the last thing she wanted. So she was willing – albeit reluctantly – to get on board with her plan.

After a few moments of thought, Sue answered Blair's question. "I can't say for certain but he left his number. I'll set up a meeting and the three of us can discuss."

Blair shook her head at that. "No. Just me and him."

"Are you sure?" Sue didn't like the idea but this was Blair's rodeo, so she was going to following Doc's advice and give Blair the opportunity to take control.

Blair took a moment to think then nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. But I'll keep you open on speed-dial just in case."

Sue accepted that. To change topics to something lighter, she pointed towards the TV. "Care to watch it again?"

Blair smiled wide, "Oh, absolutely."

* * *

During a brief conversation with Kai it was planned for he and Blair to go out for dinner and discuss things. If Kai thought Blair wouldn't make a scene in public then he'd be horribly wrong – She had no issues with making a scene if the situation called for it.

Presently the newly united uncle and niece sat across from each other at a table in Breadstix. So far neither of them had said a word beyond a generic greeting. Well, they did speak to the waiter, but with each other? – Not yet.

Blair had been waiting for Kai to be the one to crack and say something but he was holding out just as long as she was. This wasn't going to get either of them anywhere so she caved and spoke. "For the record, just because we're breaking bread doesn't mean I'm going to let you take me to live with you. My life has already been turned upside down and just when I _finally_ feel at home you show up and want to flip it all over again? That's not going to happen. I won't let that happen."

Kai took a deep breath before drinking some water from the glass in front of him. "You do not pull any punches, do you?"

"Not when I don't have a good reason." Blair crossed her arms and stared him down. "What do you want, Kai? Why are you doing this? You want to take in a complete stranger just because we share the same blood? Who the hell cares if we share the same blood. I don't know you and you do _not_ know me."

Kai cut in there a little bit by saying, "Sue Sylvester is not qualified…"

"To be a parent?" Blair figured that's where he was going with that sentence and based of his expression, she knew she was right. It's not like Blair could disagree with that but that wasn't going to stop her from making her point.

"I am well aware of her qualifications, Kai," Blair shot back. "She's been my guardian all this time. And guess what, she may be insane on so many levels but she cares about me. She actually loves me. Sue's methods are far from the best and I swear Dr. Lipschitz would end up crying in a corner after talking to her, but her heart is in the right place. Sue knows me. She knows my demons and does whatever she feels like to keep them at bay."

Blair took allowed herself a mild chuckle before saying, "You're right. Sue Sylvester is not qualified to be a parent, but that's _exactly_ what she is. She is my parent. She may not be my blood but she is my family. And you, you may be my blood but you are not my family. You're just a guy that looks like my dad so much it's freaky as hell."

Kai didn't interrupt Blair through all of that and couldn't believe that he was actually leaning towards letting Blair stay with Sue. "You're a force to be reckoned with, Blair. You actually remind me of my daughter. She's a few years younger than you." He paused for a moment. "You are the last link I have to my brother and I don't want to lose that. Jae and I had a rocky relationship at best but he was my big brother – I always wanted to do right by him. Taking care of you, giving you a good stable home, that's the ultimate way to do just that."

Blair sighed heavily. "As crazy as it is, I have a stable home. I have someone taking care of me. I'm good, Kai. If you want to get to know me and not rip me out of my life, then we can work something out. But if you pursue this, if you try and take me away from Sue then I will make your life a living hell. Believe it or not I'm fully capable of doing it."

Kai thought they were having a nice moment until she turned terrifying. "You're a lot like your father."

"I'm like both my parents," Blair countered. "They were both a couple fiery ones. I never understood why people were so surprised that I was born an inferno."

After that, they shared a relatively pleasant dinner. Kai explained why he and Jae didn't have a good relationship – Jae's father cheated with Kai's mother and Kai was the result which caused Jae's parents to get a divorce. Jae blamed Kai's existence for that and things just got worse as they got older.

Blair had a hard time imagining her father acting like that and made a mental note to ask Sue about it later. She didn't say anything about it then because they seemed to be making a little progress and didn't want to blow up about something she didn't have all the details on.

By the time dessert rolled around Kai and Blair had come to what was basically a visitation arrangement. Whenever Kai could make it to Lima they'd spend time together and he would bring his daughter when he could and so on. Kai would speak to his lawyer about shared custody with Sue – a compromise Blair could get down with – and once that was all said and done, Blair told him more about Glee Club and their 'Hello' assignment.

Blair was talking about Finn's performance in Glee when the dessert came. "Finn was epic but at the end it kinda got ruined when Rachel was all like 'And that's how _we_ say hello'. I mean, seriously? It's like she was taking credit for a song she wasn't even a part of."

Kai was having a hard time keeping up with all the names and connections of those in Glee Club. "Rachel is the one you're sort-of friends with?"

"Pretty much. We are friends but she annoys the hell out of me, so that's where the sort of comes in." Blair took another bite off the cake she ordered for dessert.

"And she's the pregnant one?" Kai didn't think he was right about that and thus needed the clarification.

"That's Quinn, who used to date Finn but now Finn is sort of dating Rachel. And the father of Quinn's baby is my ex and Finn's ex-best friend." Blair popped her lips before eating some more.

Kai felt like he had a hit a bit of an overload. "I feel like I need a cork-board, post-it notes, and some colored string to keep all this straight." He was about to dig into his own dessert but a random thought popped into his head from their previous conversation. "Dr. Lipschitz?"

"Rugrats," Blair answered with a mouthful and almost had a laughing spit-take moment when Kai made an expression that scream 'ah, yes, that makes sense now'.

As much as Blair hated to admit it, she didn't think it'd be so bad getting to know Kai after all.

* * *

The next day at school was an interesting one for sure. Mainly because when Rachel sang her assignment she sang 'Gives you Hell' and it was clearly directed at Finn. So after rehearsal, Blair caught up with Finn to get the details.

"What happened to make Rachel so pissed at you?" There was no point in beating around the bush about it.

Finn sighed heavily. "I broke up with her this morning. I was going to text you about it but you've got your own stuff going on and I didn't want to bother you."

Blair stepped in front of Finn and held her hand out to keep him from going any further. "You are not a bother, Finn. We're friends. We talk to each other. We share what's going on with each other. Don't feel like you ever have to keep something from me because it's an inconvenience because it's not and it won't be. Got it?"

Finn nodded to indicate he got it and grinned when he asked, "Does this mean I'm in the running of being your best friend?"

"Why is it that only guys want to be my best friend? I mean, seriously, am I just a turn off to girls wanting to be my friend or something?" Blair resumed walking as she said this.

"Well you are kinda terrifying. I don't think many girls want to deal with that." Finn was pretty much guessing but oh well.

To change the subject, he asked her, "How did that dinner go with your uncle?"

"Better than I thought it would be," she admitted. "Ended the night with him agreeing to share custody with Sue. In fact they're going to see the lawyers today."

Finn was glad to hear this. "So you're staying in Lima?"

"For the foreseeable future, yep." Blair nudged his arm a bit. "Can't get rid of me that easily."

* * *

After school, Blair went with Liam to the music store for some 'Hello' inspiration. They gathered up song books of some of their favorite artists but so far no appealing song for the category had popped out at them.

"I'm starting to think I should pick out a 'goodbye' song instead because that's where this search is going." Blair returned the songbooks to the shelves. "Sometimes, as much as I appreciate the message behind the assignments, I _really_ don't like the assignments."

Blair veered into rant mode as she continued. "And why is that every 'hello' song we found is a love song. I don't want to sing a love song. I am so not in the headspace to deal with singing a love song."

Liam had been giving Blair space and not making her talk about everything that went down with Puck but since it seemed like she was cracking the door open a bit, he opened it up wider. "Is it because you still have feelings for Puck even after what happened?"

Blair went to check out a different genre section and didn't answer his question right off. "It's not that. It's more along the lines of me not trusting myself when it comes to love anymore. And now he's whatever he is with Quinn and…" she trailed off because she didn't want to vent about that with Liam.

"I'm not happy with Quinn either, you can say whatever you want." Liam decided to check out the CD section in case there was something there that caught his eye and would look for the music after.

"I'm good." Blair looked at the time on her phone and rolled her eyes. "I gotta go. Sue and I are having dinner with Kai tonight before he leaves town." As she headed for the exit she called out, "If you find something I might like, text me." And instead of saying goodbye, she waved a laughing, "Hello!" and left the store.

Liam chuckled lightly to himself and smiled when an idea for a song popped right into his head.

* * *

It was later that night – after a successful dinner with Kai that didn't end in bloodshed despite the three-way verbal sparring that rewarded them with dessert on the house because it was so impressive and entertaining – that Blair got a call from Liam.

Blair looked at the time and saw it was after midnight. This made her worry a bit as she answered. "Liam? Is everything okay?"

"Why do you sound half asleep and worried?" Liam paused to look at his own clock. "Oh, sorry, didn't realize it was that late. I just finished practicing my song and wanted you to hear it before anyone else did. It can wait though."

Blair sat up in bed and rubbed her forehead. "I'm awake now so you might as well go for it."

"Okay, cook, well it might sound weird over the phone but here it is." Liam started strumming the intro to Luke Benward's 'Had me at Hello' before he started singing the lyrics.

Blair froze as she heard the lyrics he sang over the phone. She wasn't sure if he intended to sing this love song to her or just wanted her to hear it but her flight senses kicked in anyway. Blair ended the call and threw it down to the foot of the bed as she bit her nails in thought because there was no way she was ready to deal with that. Honestly, it pissed her off a bit because she made it clear to him earlier that she wasn't ready to deal with anything in regards to love.

Meanwhile, Liam didn't realize she had hung up until the end of the song. Seeing that she had made Liam think he had just screwed up big time.

That feeling only increased the following day at school when Blair pretty much ignored him. He knew it was bad when Blair immersed herself in the rumor mill about Rachel having a thing for a guy in Vocal Adrenaline. Finally Liam had to do something because he couldn't go through another day like this.

Liam stopped Blair at her locker asking, "Was the song really that bad you had to hang up one me? I know it was a bit pitchy but I was hoping you'd be able to help me out on that."

Blair paused in mid-motion of getting her book out of her locker. "You wanted my advice on the song?"

"Yeah…" Liam then laughed, "You didn't think it was for _you_ did you?"

Blair nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Kinda, yeah, and it was freaking me out a bit."

Liam shook his head with laughter. "Didn't we talk about how all 'hello' songs were love songs?"

Blair had a major face-palm moment before smacking his arm. "Don't call me in the middle of the night with song choices anymore."

"Noted." The bell rang and the pair went in separate directions for class. As Liam went down the hall he thought he should consider a career in acting because acting was exactly what he had just done and she believed him.

Oh well, it was worth it. Liam would rather have Blair as a friend if nothing more than an awkward acquaintance any day.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 14


	15. Madonna

When Blair awoke that morning it was pretty much like any other. Okay, that's not really the truth because that morning Blair was woken up by Sue playing Madonna quite loudly right next to ear.

"What the hell?!" Blair shouted as she bolted up and rubbed her ear due to the now present ringing. True, Sue had been waking her up in random ways lately since she'd been in a bit of an 'oversleeping funk', but this one took the cake.

"What was that?" Sue asked loudly over the music playing from the boom-box in her hand. Of course she had heard exactly what Blair said but wasn't going to acknowledge it.

Blair reached out, turned down the music and asked in a different way. "Why on earth did you choose to wake me up like _that_?"

"It's quite simple, Blair." Sue set the player on the nightstand. "I am taking Doc's advice in making sure you know how strong of a woman you are. And I've decided to use Madonna to do it." She turned around to leave Blair's room but came back to add in, "Oh, you're also going to help me choreograph the Cheerios."

Sue turned up the music loudly before leaving Blair's bedroom.

"What?!" was all Blair managed to get out before scrambling out of bed and finding Sue in the kitchen. She closed the fridge Sue was opening and said, "A) I know how strong I am and B) I'm not joining the Cheerios. How many times have I told you this?"

Sue moved Blair's hand off the door so she could get the milk. "You need random reminders of your strength. I will not let what almost happened before to almost happen again. You told me you were a dragon – Well, I haven't seen too much fire lately." After pouring the milk into the cereal bowl, she returned it to the fridge. "And for the record, I never said you were joining the Cheerios. I said you were helping me with the new choreography not performing it."

Blair crossed her arms with a huff. "Tow-may-tow, tow-mah-tow. I'm not doing it." She wasn't even going to argue with Sue about her lack of fire because even she was noticing it lately. Granted she had bouts of fiery bursts but most of the time she was just getting through the days. It was still hard being in classes and Glee with Puck and Quinn and her mandatory calls with Kai to keep in touch weren't helping anything because she knew if she didn't stick with the agreed plan that he'd try and take her away from Sue. Surprisingly that was something Blair didn't want to happen so it was a lot to deal with on top of everything else. Blair was pulled from those thoughts when Sue answered her.

"On the contrary, stubborn goddaughter of mine. You heard Doc when he said you need to have other activities outside of Glee so you don't depend on one thing. You haven't been volunteering lately and Yearbook Club is over, so like I said, you're helping with the Cheerios. Besides, it's about time I pay proper homage to the glorious woman that is Madonna and you're going to help me do it." Sue wasn't going to let Blair get out of it.

Whether it was the way she was woken up, or the intense in depth conversation first thing in the morning, or because of all the stuff she still hadn't dealt with that was the cause of Blair not putting up a fight with Sue about the Cheerios she didn't know, but she didn't give Sue any more trouble about it. Instead of refusing, Blair threw up her hands with a strong, "Fine! I'll help you but I'm not going to like it!" As lame as that was, it was the last thing Blair said before returning to her room and slamming the door.

Sue picked up her cereal bowl with a smug expression on her face, one that only grew when she heard Blair turn up the music.

* * *

Blair was with the other Glee girls in the choir room during free period at school. It sort of became a bit of a hangout for them where they shared notes from class, talked, or anything else that happened to happen. Presently Mercedes was braiding the purple streaks in Blair's hair when Rachel broke through the silence.

"Can I ask you guys something private?"

"Yes," Santana instantly answered, "you should move to Israel."

Blair rolled her eyes at that and returned to her homework with the plan of getting it done before getting home.

Rachel walked to the front of the group and set a stool down in front before speaking of what was on her mind – most of which Blair tuned out because Rachel started going on about dating and how she wasn't dating anyone because she and Finn weren't together anymore, and how she and Jesse broke up for the sake of the team. And then went into a _very_ specific hypothetical about going to a Wiggles concert with a guy then going back to her house because her dads weren't home and started making out.

That's where Blair started paying more attention, especially when Rachel said that when her 'hypothetical' guy wanted to go all the way with her but she said no because she wasn't ready and that he up and left in a huff because of it. Granted Rachel went into more details than that, but that was most definitely the gist.

Rachel finished off what she had to say by asking, "How do I stop a guy from getting mad at me just for saying 'no'?"

Before Blair could give her opinion, Santana said, "Easy. Just do what I do and never say no."

"If the guy gets mad at you for saying no, then they don't respect you. And if you never say no because it makes you feel empowered then all the power to you, but if you don't because it doesn't mean anything to you or only because it's what the guy expects, then you don't respect yourself." Blair couldn't stop herself from saying that and Quinn took a jab at her because of it.

"You should listen to Blair. I bet she learned all about respect after dating Puck."

Blair closed up her homework book and turned to Quinn. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well he's shuffling through girls like a deck of cards and doesn't care, which is probably what he did while he was with you, too. So it's no wonder you feel so strongly about respect."

Blair made something clear to Quinn right then. "Puck wasn't like that with me."

Quinn laughed lightly, "Sure."

Tina interjected there with her own story about respect before things got too out of control between them. "Artie doesn't respect me. He told me if I wanted to date him then I had to start wearing tighter clothes and stuff. Guys just don't care about our feelings."

Blair stood up before Mercedes was done with her hair because she was fuming now. "Have I been that out of the loop lately that I've been missing how the guys have been disrespecting and objectifying?"

Mercedes shrugged in a 'well, yeah' way. "Kinda. You've been in a funk lately, like you're on auto-pilot or something."

"Wow, okay, I guess I have some head-cracking to do." Blair was about to leave the choir room, but Mr Schue (who had heard everything from his nearby desk) stopped her.

"Blair, that's not a good idea. There are better ways than that to get your message across."

"Like how?" Blair wanted to know. "Singing about it? Sorry, Mr Schue, but not everyone is going to have an epiphany through song." With nothing left to say to him, she left the room.

Okay, Blair really didn't have a plan of what to do or what to say, all she knew was that she hated what she just learned and wasn't going to stand for it. Unfortunately for her, the first person she had a bone to pick with was Puck. He was down at his open locker and she stormed right over.

Blair slammed his locker shut and glared at him. "So, I hear you've been disrespectful towards women. That true?" She crossed her arms with a look of fury on her face.

Puck wasn't sure what this was about so he answered with, "If you're asking me if I've been dating a lot, then yeah. What's the big deal?" He was about to point out that they weren't together anymore, but she cut him off before he had the chance to.

"The big deal is you know better than that. You are better than that! When we were together you actually listened to me and respected me, but now suddenly you're incapable of doing it to anyone else? That's bullshit!" Even with everything that had happened, and what she still felt about the situation, she knew that Puck was a good guy at heart. She had experienced it firsthand.

Puck scoffed and got right to the point when he shot back with, "What's the point of being the good guy if I'm not with you. I was like that for _you_. Because I _loved_ _you_." He decided to take a chance since this was the most she's spoken to him since they broke up. "I still do. Blair, please give me another chance."

When Puck reached out to take her hand, she stepped back. "I don't want to do that. I can't do that. That's not what this is about. This is about me being pissed about you showing zero respect for the people you're so-called dating and acting like it's okay!"

Puck took a chance and it didn't work out in his favor and because of his heightened emotions, he wasn't getting the point. "You don't have the right to get on my case about anything anymore. You dumped me."

"You **lied** to me," Blair seethed back. "That's why I dumped you. If you told me the truth right off…I don't know what would have happened but it wouldn't have ended up like this."

"Like you've never lied to anyone?" Puck shot back, not thinking about the 'what-ifs' of their situation. Okay, he didn't think she did lie but it was a lame retort that apparently packed a punch because her face went pale.

Blair had lied before, many times. Perhaps not in this Reality but in her own. And it was those that made her feel like she'd been punched right in the gut. Finally, Blair said with a broken voice, "Not to you. _Never_ to you." This was not how she envisioned this conversation going and now she wanted no part of it, so Blair took off down the hall before Puck could get out another word.

Once Blair was far enough away, she darted around a corner and hid there. She didn't realize that she was rubbing her arm hard through her shirt, but that was what she was doing when Kurt happened to walk by her.

Kurt recognized the look on Blair's face and didn't like it one bit. Her current expression meant her mind was going in a dark place so he jumped right in to snap her out of it. "Blair? Can you hear me?" He took her hand to keep her from rubbing her arm like that.

Blair swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded. "Yeah, Kurt, I can hear you." When they used their names instead of their nicknames for each other, that meant it was important. "I just talked to Puck. I meant to give him a piece of my mind but ended up…" She couldn't even bring herself to finish that sentence because of all the stuff that came flooding back.

The bell rang for them to get to class and since Kurt figured Blair wouldn't want the attention from Sue about skipping, he called a passing Liam over. "Liam! You got the next class with Blair, right?" Kurt would have been there for her himself but they didn't share the next class.

Liam came over and could tell something was up. "Yeah. Why? What's going on?"

"He wants you to keep an eye on me." Blair figured that's what Kurt wanted and she was right.

Liam didn't have the details but it didn't matter. "Sure. We need to pick new lab partners today anyway so perfect timing." He acted like it wasn't a big deal towards Blair but looked at Kurt to show he knew it was important.

"Excellent. Thank you." Kurt hugged Blair. "Later, Jerk."

Blair gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Later, Loser."

Liam walked with Blair to get to class before the late bell rang and before getting there, asked, "You want to skip? I'm down for skipping." When Blair shook her head in refusal, he took a different approach. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Let's just say that I'm starting to think I'm not as strong as I think I am." Blair intended on leaving it at that, but Liam stopped her right outside the classroom.

"You are one of the strongest people I know. So what if you've got some fragile parts to you. Like you said, you're fragile like a bomb, but it takes a lot of strength to keep yourself from exploding."

Blair got what he was trying to say but wasn't quite sure if he said it in the best way. "I'm not sure if that was very enlightened or if you were making it up as you went along."

Liam laughed asked they walked into class together, saying, "The world may never know."

* * *

After school during her mandatory Cheerios attendance, Blair was pretty zoned out. She was thinking about her conversation with Puck because it was on reply in her mind. The only relief she had was during lunch when Liam and Finn distracted her just by being themselves, but now she was in a place she didn't want to be in and watching a routine she didn't care about.

At the end of the routine, Sue went over to Blair who was sitting on the front bleacher in the Gym and exhaled proudly. "Yes. It's my best work yet. That's it. That's the routine that's going to win us Nationals."

Blair nodded absentmindedly and stood up. "Good for you. If that's it then can I…" Her eyes shot open wide when Sue's words connected to the memory of the routine that was just performed. "You're kidding me, right? Sue, oh my god, that routine was – was basic! And that's giving it a compliment. The timing was all off, the music was all wrong and…"

Sue's smirk grew as Blair went on her rant with everything that was wrong with the routine. After all, that was her plan. She knew Blair would see what was wrong and be determined to make it right because it'd bug Blair like crazy if they weren't reaching their potential.

Blair was just finishing up her rant when something else clicked. She closed her mouth and crossed her arms before saying, "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

Sue neither confirmed nor denied it as stepped behind Blair, put her hands on Blair's shoulders, and turned her to face the Cheerios who were awaiting instruction and/or ridicule. "I have given you the basics of the routine," she continued with more emotion, "I have given you her _bones_." Sue stepped to the side and pointed towards the Cheerios, saying to Blair with conviction, "Now take what I have given you and make a _Madonna_ out of her."

Once again Blair fell for Sue's evil genius and once again it worked. Blair tied back her hair, pushed up her sleeves, and with a look of determination on her face, went out onto the floor, calling out to the Cheerios, "Listen up! If you think that piece of crap was up to par then you've got another thing coming. Let's get to work!"

* * *

After awhile of Blair redoing the whole routine with surprisingly very little input from Sue, she called for a break. There was something missing and Blair couldn't put her finger on it, so she hoped taking a step back would give her the space to find it.

Blair was getting some water when she heard a subgroup of the Cheerios talking about Circus Club. Hearing that was like a light bulb getting turned on in her mind, so she approached them and asked, "Did you say you're in Circus Club?"

They all thought they were in trouble for being in it because Sue gave them crap before, so one of the girls said, "Please don't tell Sue. She thinks it's for losers and…"

Blair waved her hand to brush that aside because that's not what she was getting at. "I won't say anything, but that's not the point. Do you guys ever use stilts?"

They all looked at each other a bit hesitantly before admitting, "Yeah. We do. A lot, actually."

Blair started to grin because she could already see things playing out. "And do you have them with you?" When the group said they did, Blair told them to go get them because they had work to do.

Sue saw how the group ran off and called out, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?!"

Blair went right over to say, "They're getting something needed for the routine." She was still grinning a bit at the idea.

Now this was more like it. Sue was pleased to see her plan for Blair was working. "And what exactly do you have up your sleeve, mischievous goddaughter of mine?"

Blair laughed a bit. "You'll see. But don't worry. You're going to love it. Even if you don't admit it."

* * *

With the new routine featuring the stilts ironed out, Blair stood next to Sue and watched the whole thing unfold. Blair felt pretty damn good about it and based off the momentary smirk on Sue's face, she knew Sue was pleased with it. Despite calling the group a bunch of freak-show babies at the end of it.

"Well, my job here is done. Right?" Blair would leave the berating and whatever else to Sue.

"You did good, Blair. Madonna would be proud." Sue nodded affirmatively at this.

Blair put her bag over her shoulder as she said, "Madonna isn't the strong woman I want proud of me." She smiled and nudged Sue. "I'll see you at home, insane godmother of mine."

She laughed as Sue called out over the megaphone for the Cheerios to do it again and passed Mr Schue who was apparently on his way into the gymnasium. "See you tomorrow, Mr Schue," was all she said to him and left the school.

As much as Blair didn't want to admit it, Sue's insanity was once again the best thing for her.

* * *

It seemed Sue's 'Madonna fever' was contagious because at the next Glee Rehearsal Mr Schue gave them their assignment; Madonna. When he asked what came to mind when they heard Madonna some answers were icon, genius, and even hall of fame MILF, but Blair said with context, "Weird coincidence."

Mr Schue looked at Blair oddly before getting back to the matter at hand. "So, we're all aware of Madonna's musical and cultural significance, which is why this week your assignment is to come up with a Madonna number.

While Kurt and the girls were all excited about this, honestly Blair was a bit Madonna-ed out. However she got back on the Madonna train when Puck and Finn both chimed in saying that doing Madonna numbers made them uncomfortable and asked if they could do something else.

When Liam agreed with the guys on that, sitting in the seat directly behind Blair, Blair elbowed his leg so hard that it made him wince. Clearly she wasn't happy with the fact that he wasn't too keen on singing Madonna.

Mr Schue wasn't too pleased with the boys' reactions either. "Hey! It's come to my attention that many of you haven't been treating the young ladies of our group very nicely lately. You're disrespectful, bullying, sexist, and I hate to say it, misogynistic."

Finn was very confused. "I have no idea what that means."

Mr Schue sighed. "What it means is, put yourselves in their shoes for a change. Culturally, Madonna's legacy transcends her music, because by and large the subtext of her songs are about being strong, independent, and confident no matter what your sex. But more than anything, Madonna's musical message is about equality. And that is something I think you guys need to work on."

"I'm still not down," Puck cut in. "No chick intimidates the Puckzilla." He caught Blair glaring at him and reworded it a bit. "Maybe one does, but I don't think Madonna's music translates to show choir."

Blair and Rachel both laughed at this. "Oh really?" Rachel asked then got off her seat and held her hand out to Blair. "Shall we show them how it's done?"

Even with Blair and Rachel's ups and down when it came to Glee, it didn't overlap. "Express yourself, baby." She took Rachel's hand and went to the front of the group, pointing to the band to start playing.

The band took the cue and started playing Madonna's express yourself. When it was time for them to sing, the girls started in unison and waved for the rest of the girls to come down and join them as they performed the rest of it.

Okay, while Blair was getting tired of all the Madonna stuff, she couldn't argue with the fact that the messages were there and Blair was enjoying herself while getting reminded of them – Even if the guys (with the exception of Kurt) weren't really getting it.

* * *

It was between classes when Blair was at her locker and Liam came over. "You don't think I'm a misogynist ass do you?"

"I have yet to meet a guy that didn't have at least one of those moments," Blair answered as she swapped out her books before closing up her locker. "But overall, no, I don't think you are."

"So the kneecap shattering elbow attack was for what exactly?"

"It was one of your moments." Blair grinned innocently and headed on her way.

Liam accepted that and followed her. "You look better today."

"As opposed to what exactly?" Blair knew what he meant but couldn't resist teasing him a bit.

Liam had a feeling she was just messing with him but answered her honestly. "As opposed to looking like you're standing at the edge of a black hole and contemplating falling in."

Blair stopped in her tracks when he said that. "Ouch. Dark. Deserved, but dark."

Liam changed the subject when he said, "So what's this I hear about you joining the Cheerios?"

"I didn't join the Cheerios," Blair corrected. "Sue roped me into choreographing for her. And honestly, I enjoyed it. I feel pretty damn proud of myself, too."

"I might have to crash one of their rehearsals and check it out then." Liam nudged Blair a bit with a smile. "See you in class."

"Later, Liam." Blair was about to head to her own class when she spotted Finn at his locker looking very confused. She went over to him instead and leaned against the row of lockers. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I think I might be the one owing you the penny." Finn replied then let her in on what was going on inside his head. "Santana just offered to take my virginity and told me that Rachel is still dating Jesse."

Blair opened her mouth to speak but it took her a little before she found the words. She cleared her throat before asking, "Are you going to do it with her?"

"I don't know." Finn admitted. "It would make Rachel jealous."

"Sleeping with someone to make someone jealous isn't a good reason to do it. Especially if it's your first time." By now Blair knew how Finn thought he got Quinn pregnant and if she knew the details earlier then she would have set the record straight, but that was in the past now despite how often she kept thinking about it.

Bringing herself back to the present, Blair said, "Losing your virginity means something, Finn. You should do it with someone who means something to you."

"Like with you and Puck?" Finn kicked himself for asking her that. "I didn't mean – you don't have to…"

"I wasn't a virgin when I dated Puck," Blair informed him so he'd quit beating himself up for asking or whatever it was he was doing. "When I slept with someone for the first time, yeah, it was special. We loved each other. I know not everyone can be that lucky to have it that way, but if you're in control of the situation then wait. Don't let bitterness or jealousy dictate your decision."

Blair reached out and squeezed Finn's arm with a brief smile. "But I'm not going to dictate your decision for you either. Just think about it, okay?"

Finn didn't answer one way or another and nodded when she asked him to think about it because she did give him something to think about.

"Later, Finn." Blair left their conversation and went to class, not understanding why Blair felt weird at the thought of Finn possibly sleeping with Santana. She figured it was because she knew he deserved better and went with that. Yeah, she went with that.

* * *

After school Blair finished up one of her mandatory phone calls with Kai then pulled up the music program on her computer to record Madonna covers for Jean. Blair was in the process of getting the microphone set up when Sue got home.

"Is it true?" Sue demanded to know as she walked into the living room.

Blair looked up at Sue towering over her and had no idea what she was talking about. "Little more details, please?"

"Is your Glee Club swooping in and taking Madonna away from me?"

Blair raised her brows at this. "Uh, we're not 'swopping in' and taking anything from anyone. Mr. Schue assigned Madonna so that's what we're doing. For my assignment I'm gonna make a CD of me covering her songs. I'm gonna give Jean a copy of it while I'm at it."

As much as Sue was fuming because the Glee Club was doing Madonna, she couldn't bring herself to trying to stop Blair from going on with the assignment. "Fine. Proceed. But I'm going to give that Schuester a piece of my mind."

"I would be very surprised if you didn't." Blair wasn't even kidding about that. She changed topics there before she forgot. "Oh, Sue, Kai wants to talk to you about something."

"If it's not one man ruining lives it's another." She sighed heavily then asked, "What does Kai want now?"

"He wants me to spend the next vacation with him and his daughter. Kai not-so-casually pointed out that he didn't need your permission to take me, but he's willing to discuss it." Honestly, Blair didn't want to go but if it meant keeping some semblance of her life in peace then she'd deal with it.

"Well he can't have you." Sue wasn't going to budge on this. "You convinced me to take you to that flag world place so that's what we're doing. If Kai wants to see you during the vacation then he'll have to go there."

Blair paused in the adjustments of her microphone stand when she heard this. "Hold on. You're saying that you want to invite Kai and his daughter to Six Flags with us?"

"If putting up with their presence means I get to keep you, then yes." Sue nodded her head affirmatively before picking up the phone. "In fact I'm going to call him right now and tell him just that."

Out of all the outcomes Blair expected there to be…that was not one of them, but Blair wasn't going to argue with her about it. Apparently Sue was capable of meeting in the middle, even if she was the one dragging them there.

* * *

Things were surprisingly quiet for the next couple days. Even Kai gave leeway and agreed to Sue's terms about the theme park trip over school vacation, so all in all things were good. And then things kinda took a weird turn. At least where the day to day events were concerned at school for Blair.

Blair was heading to the library when suddenly two sets of hands shot out of the AV room and pulled her inside. She almost went all – as Blair would put it – 'hiya!' on them, but realized it was Kurt and Mercedes so she didn't put her fight reflexes into gear.

"What the hell, guys?! You almost gave me a heart attack!" Blair let herself laugh about it now but that didn't curb her curiosity.

"Sorry, Jerk, we just needed you to see this. Sue agreed to be in our Madonna video and Artie just finished it." Kurt smiled excitedly as he guided Blair over to the seat and sat her down in front of the TV.

"I can walk, Loser," Blair laughed then waved her hands towards the TV in front of her as she sat down. "I find it hard to believe that Sue would partake in anything positive where Glee is concerned."

"Well, she did. And you _have_ to see it." Mercedes pushed 'play' and let the video roll.

Blair watched as the black and white music video began and proceeded with such glamor and vintage 'noir' that she could hardly contain how epic she thought it was. And when Sue came on and started singing 'Vogue' and her mouth dropped. Blair could hardly believe that was her because her style was so different and she had no idea Sue could sing!

At the end of it, Blair was at a loss for words. "Oh. My. God! Guys! That was…holy crap!"

Mercedes and Kurt shared a fist bump before Mercedes asked her, "You really liked it?"

Blair nodded like crazy. "Hell, yeah! And I so want a copy, but later. I want to watch it again."

* * *

Blair waited until Sue got home that night before saying anything to her about the video. In fact it wasn't until they started cooking dinner that Blair randomly said, "Wait! Sue, strike a pose!"

Sue stopped the stirring of the sauce and slowly turned to face her. "They showed you?"

"Oh yeah," Blair beamed, "and I have copies. It was incredible, Sue. Seriously, I was awed and I'm not awed easily."

Sue's posture straightened a bit. "Thank you. So, which look should I go with?"

Blair swallowed the bit of pasta she was testing before asking for clarification. "What?"

"It's not that hard of a question to answer. Which was your favorite look? That was the only reason why I did it to find my inner Madonna and show her to the world." Sue thought that was pretty obvious.

Blair set the fork down and crossed her arms before giving her opinion about something. "You don't need to look like Madonna to exert your strength or power – to show off your inner Madonna. You do it every day, Sue. You're one of the strongest people I know. You don't need to copy anyone to prove it."

Sue still couldn't get over how Blair had such a strong tendency to surprise her. "Well okay then." Was all she had to say about that, but when Blair moved to set the table, Sue gave her a brief hug before returning to the sauce like nothing happened.

Blair smiled at this brief act and didn't acknowledge it other than winking at Sue when she turned back to her and proceeded to set the table.

* * *

Blair was up late working on a report that she completely forgot about. It still amused her that she cared about grades and stuff. Maybe it was because things were so different in this Reality – there were no supernatural beasties lurking in the shadows. All the concerns in this life were normal – as normal as this Gleeful Reality could be anyway. It was the exact break from her own Reality that she needed – for once to live life as a normal-ish teenager. An so, homework.

Blair took the pen from her teeth and made notes in the book beside her computer just as he cellphone buzzed and Finn's name popped up. She looked at the time before answering because it was wicked late – or wicked early depending on one's perspective. Since it must be important, she answered it.

"Finn? What's up?" Blair spoke in hushed tones in case Sue was up and about. She probably wasn't but Blair wanted to be on the safe side.

"I should have listened to you," Finn replied, sounding as if he regretted doing something because that's exactly how he felt.

It didn't take Blair long to figure out what Finn was talking to. "Santana, huh?"

"Yeah. You were right. I didn't feel anything afterwards. It didn't mean anything. I thought…I don't know. I thought…"

"You thought it'd make you feel empowered? You thought that because Rachel is dating someone that you'd get a leg up by sleeping with Santana?" Blair's voice wasn't accusing or anything like that, in face she sounded sympathetic. Making Finn feel bad about what happened was the last thing she wanted to do.

Finn couldn't get over how it was like she was in his head. "Yeah. Pretty much exactly that."

Blair slouched down on her bed a bit. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. You tried to warn me." He was quiet for a moment before asking, "Is it weird that I called you about it?"

"You mean like after I called you after Puck left that first time? If you were okay with it where I'm concerned then I'm okay with it with you." Honestly, it bugged Blair a bit. Not that Finn called her but the reason behind the call, and that in itself bugged her as well. "We're good, Finn."

"Thanks, Blair. Goodnight. I'll let you get back to your report."

"How did you know I was working on my report?" Blair lifted her head a bit to peek out the window just in case.

Fin laughed. "I saw your reaction when Liam brought it up at lunch. There was no way you remembered it was due soon, so I figured you'd be working on it now. Was I wrong?"

Blair popped her lips at this. "No, you were not wrong. Goodnight, Finn. And hey, I won't tell anyone. Promise."

Finn appreciated that. "Thanks, Blair. Bye."

"Bye." Blair tossed her phone aside and rubbed her face with a groan before getting back to work. Not only did she want to distract herself but because she wanted to get it done in order to have some semblance of sleep before school.

* * *

At Glee Club the next day, Blair thought it was some sort of weird dream because Jesse St. James was not attending McKinley High School and was officially part of the club. Mr Schue assured them that it was all legit and because Jesse's parents were out of the country he's living with his uncle in McKinley district, so Jesse now went to school there. Suffice to say, Finn wasn't too happy about that. And honestly, pretty much everyone else wasn't either.

Jesse's response to this was, "I would have thought you'd be happier about this. I'm a star. You can learn from me."

Kurt shook his head with a scoff. "We were already fighting for second-leads. And now that you've shown up, I've lost all hope of ever getting a solo."

Mercedes felt the same way. "Yeah, that's right. And y'all just trot me out at the end of every number so I can wail on the last note. How is that okay?"

"He's a spy, Mr Schue," Santana interjected. "I would know."

Mr Schue proceeded to reiterate the fact that he spoke with Jesse's parents and it was all legit. And went on to say that no one who has ever tried out for Glee Club has been prevented from joining, so they weren't going to start doing it now.

Blair snorted when Jesse told Rachel that he left Vocal Adrenaline for her. Why he felt the need to declare his devotion to her was a bit too much in her opinion, like he had something to prove. This made her lean forward to where Liam and Finn were sitting to whisper, "For the record, I already don't like this guy." When Liam and Finn held their fists out to her for bumps of agreement, she obliged.

Whether or not this Jesse guy had an ulterior motive for joining Glee wouldn't change the fact that rehearsals were going to be far more interesting from now on.

* * *

After Glee, Blair went to the auditorium to get things ready for the Madonna number she was helping Finn and Liam put together. Upon hearing footsteps coming towards her, she figured it was one of them, so she talked about the costumes. "I know we've got red and white for the shirts but I had to get my purple in there somehow." She turned around to show them the purple lining of her red vest but saw it was Puck instead.

Blair set the vest down and returned to sorting out the costumes. "I thought you were someone else. If you're looking for Liam or Finn or anyone else, they're not here."

"I was looking for you." Puck kept a respectful distance between them but he had to get out what he wanted to say. "I'm sorry. You're right. I've been an ass towards the girls I've been taking out. They don't deserve that and you didn't deserve what I did to you. I should have told you the truth about Quinn and I will never be able to make up for that. You deserve better than me. I hope you find it. I also hope one day you'll stop hating me."

Blair set the shirt she was folding down with a heavy sigh. "I don't hate you. I can't hate you anymore. Hating you is exhausting." She looked at him now. "Things will never be able to get back to how they were, but I don't hate you. Except for the obvious, you were one of the best boyfriends I have ever had and that's saying something."

Puck appreciated hearing that. It meant a lot for him to hear it. "You think we'll ever be friends again?"

"We weren't friends to begin with," Blair answered honestly because she went from disliking him to dating him, there was no gap in between. "But could there be an opportunity to become friends? I think that's possible, yeah."

Puck smiled at those words. "I'll take the possible opportunity then. See you later for the number?"

"I'll be here." When Blair exhaled as Puck walked away she felt like she'd just let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She thought that giving Puck a piece of her mind would be just the thing she needed to get over it when really she just needed to let it go. After all, she'd forgiven worse; Klaus was a perfect example of that, so how could she keep hating Puck? The answer was simple – she couldn't, and now she finally realized it and could finally take the next step in whatever this Reality had in store for her.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 15


	16. Home

Kai was in Lima for business again – what kind of business he could possibly have in Lima, Blair didn't know but she didn't question it either. Part of the deal was whenever he was in town they were to have dinner together which is something they already had that evening and now it was time for the trip home. Only…Kai didn't drive Blair back to Sue's place but started to drive into Kurt's neighborhood.

"I know I didn't say I was sleeping at Kurt's tonight so what are we doing here?" Blair expected Kai to give her an answer to that.

Kai pulled up in front of a house with a 'Sold' sign in the front yard. He didn't explain until he turned off the car. "Between my job sending me more often due to a merger and you being in Lima, it just made sense to buy a house here. It'll be easier on my daughter, too, I think. This way she'd be able to come with me on my business trips and you can stay over while I'm in town." He looked behind them, saying, "And it just so happens to be right down the street from your friend's house."

Blair was having a hard time taking him seriously about this. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, it's not. I am doing my best to keeping to the joint custody arrangement with Sue, but I do want to have a larger role in your life, Blair." Kai reached into his pocket and pulled out a purple butterfly keychain with a key hanging from it and handed it over to Blair. "This is also your home. Even when I'm not in town, if you need a place to just get away it's yours. I trust you."

Blair's eyes locked onto the purple butterfly keychain for a moment. While purple was indeed her favorite color, purple butterflies were her mom's thing. Purple butterflies – that was the same no matter the Reality.

Bringing herself back to the present, she looked at Kai with a raised brow. "You trust me? You're just starting to get to know me, Kai." Blair laughed, "I mean, what's to stop me from throwing a rager every night you're not here?"

"Because you're an old soul like your mother who respects to those who deserve it." And he knew he hadn't done anything to not deserve her respect. Kai placed the key in her hand. "Besides, if you ever did throw a rager here I'd leave your punishment up to Sue."

Blair's face went white at the idea. "Damn, Kai. You don't pull any punches." She made a mental note to ask how well Kai knew her mother at a later date.

Kai simply laughed as he started the car back up to bring her back to Sue's place. "Like it or not, that's something we have in common."

* * *

Sue sat at the kitchen table working on bills when Blair came in after her outing with Kai. She didn't look up from the paperwork as she asked, "Did he show you the house?"

Blair stopped in her tracks for a moment before joining her at the table. "How did you know about that?" She didn't think Kai had mentioned it to Sue so Blair was going to bring it up. To hear that Sue already knew about it surprised her.

Sue took off her reading glasses and set them onto the table. "He called me a couple weeks ago about the idea. I'm the one that convinced him to get the house near your gay friend. You're welcome."

Blair took her bag off her shoulders and dropped it on the table along with her keys. "And you're okay with this? He's planning on making a life here, Sue. He's planning on making a home. That means he's going to expect me to spend more time with him in exchange for you two sharing custody. You know that, right?"

"It's one of my suspicions, yes, but I'm not worried about it. Whether or not you have a temporary home with him doesn't change the fact that you have a permanent home here. So what, you'll have a few things in a room at his place, big deal." Sue returned her glasses to her eyes to get back to the bills. "Don't read too much into the situation."

Blair thought Sue was being too calm about this but was too tired to try and figure it out. Besides, when it came to Sue any ulterior motives would come to light eventually. "I'll try not to. Goodnight, Sue."

Sue waited until Blair was almost to her room before saying, "By the way, I've reserved the Auditorium for the Cheerios, so you're Glee Club is going to need to find a different place to rehearse."

Blair turned right around and went straight back to Sue. "I'm starting think that all your sabotages have more to do with some vendetta against Mr Schue than it does making sure I don't get complacent with life."

Sue didn't answer her either way and proceeded to work on the books.

When Blair finally accepted that Sue wasn't going to confirm or deny this, she rolled her eyes and went to her bedroom. "Real mature, Sue."

Once Sue heard Blair's door close, she said to herself, "Learned from the best, sweets. Learned from the very best."

* * *

Blair wasn't one to be a tattler, but if a tidbit of information happened to reach the ears of Mr. Schue to give him a chance to do something about it, that was an entirely different story. Which is exactly what Blair did when she saw him at school that morning. She casually asked that since the Auditorium was reserved for the Cheerios where was the Glee Club going to practice for Regionals? Of course, just like Blair figured, Mr. Schue had no idea what Blair was talking about so he went off to find out what was what.

Liam hadn't heard the conversation between Blair and Mr. Schue in the hall that morning, but he did see Schue's expression before he took off and was wonder what was up. Liam met Blair at her locker. "Are you quitting Glee or something? Schuester didn't look happy."

"Sue reserved the Auditorium for the entire week to keep Glee from rehearsing there. I brought it up while acting like I thought he already knew in case Sue questions me later." Blair closed her locker with an impish grin. "I'm finally starting to adapt to the lunacy that is Sue Sylvester."

Liam got a good laugh from that. "I don't think anyone is capable of adapting to that, not even you."

"Challenge accepted." Blair spotted Kurt down the hall and wanted to talk to him before class. "See you later, Liam." Without even thinking about it, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before hurrying down the hall.

Liam was taken so aback by that action that he wasn't even sure if it had actually happened. It was something he'd have to file away to casually ask her about later.

Blair caught up with Kurt and hugged him with a peck to his cheek. Hey, Loser. I've got news."

"Hello, Jerk." Kurt couldn't even begin to imagine what her news could possibly be. "Do I need to mentally or physically prepare myself for this?"

"Not really. Unless you want to pump some iron to help me move some stuff over to Kai's new place. Which just so happens to be a couple houses down from you." Blair grinned, figuring Kurt would like this news. And she was right.

Kurt gasped, "No way! Your uncle was the one bought that place? We're gonna be part-time neighbors! This is so exciting." He linked arms with Blair as they walked to class together. "You have got to let me design your room."

"It wouldn't feel like home if you didn't." Blair shared happy laughter with Kurt and talked over details all the way to class. Granted she really didn't care what her bedroom ended up looking like since it'd never really feel like home, but the project seemed to make Kurt happy and that was the important thing for her.

* * *

After Glee Club that day, where Mr. Schue informed them that the Auditorium wasn't usable for the week and promised to find a place off-site for their new home, Finn caught up with Blair in the hallway.

"Hey, Blair, Kurt is acting weirder towards me than normal. He was asking my opinion on paint samples or something. Any idea what that's about?"

Blair, who assumed what the conversation between Kurt and Finn consisted of, answered with, "He's helping me decorate my room at Kai's place, but not sure why he'd ask you about it."

Finn completely brushed the whole redecorating topic aside for the time being and zoomed in on the other part. "Your room at Kai's place? I thought that whole custody thing got sorted out and you weren't moving?"

"The company Kai works for is merging with a company based in Lima or something so he bought a home here. When he's in town I'll be staying there." Blair shrugged nonchalantly, despite not wanting to do it. "It shouldn't be too bad. His house is only a couple away from Kurt's, so if things go south while I'm there I'll just crash with him."

"Well as long as you're not moving out of Lima." That was one of the last things he wanted.

"I'm pretty sure we've covered this already; You can't get rid of me that easily." Blair nudged him with a smile before parting ways to their own destinations.

* * *

Blair had gotten a part-time job to keep herself busy and more grounded. It gave her something to focus on so her mind didn't wander too far. She was presently stocking the CDs when Finn came into the shop and stormed right over to her. "Whoa, what happened?" She'd have to have been blind not to see that something was bothering him.

"Did you know?" Finn asked a bit exasperatedly.

Blair set the stack of CDs back into the box and rolled her hands out in front of her. "You should know me well enough by now, Finn. Details."

Finn sighed in frustration. "Did you know my mom was dating Kurt's father?"

Blair's eyes widened in surprise because, nope, she didn't know. "Wow, no I didn't, but is that such a bad thing?"

Finn thought his head was going to explode. "How can you even ask me that?! How could she up and date someone else and say she thinks she's in love when there's no way she could be over my dad."

Blair grabbed his wrist and pulled him along to the back of the store so the customers at the front wouldn't hear what was going on. "Okay, Finn, I see this is a touchy subject for you, but your dad died a long time ago. Wouldn't he want your mom to move on and be happy?"

Finn still hadn't processed this news and really wasn't thinking things through, so he lashed out at Blair, "You don't know what you're talking about. What do you know about losing someone like that?" He realized his words a little too late.

Blair cleared her throat and crossed her arms in an attempt to keep her composure. "I know a little something about love and loss, Finn." When he tried to speak again, she held up her hand before either of them ended up saying anything else that would be regretted. "I have to get back to work." Without another word, Blair walked off to take care of the CDs and didn't look up when Finn walked past her and left the store.

Blair had tried so hard to stay focused on this life, in this Reality, but there were so many times that memories would hit her like a freight train and make her wonder if it was worth staying in this Reality anymore or try and find a way back to her own. She was pulled from these thoughts when she heard her supervisor ask,

"Everything alright, Blair?"

She turned around to nod with as much of a convincing smile as she could muster. "Yeah, Owen. Everything's normal."

* * *

On her way home after work, Blair had an odd conversation with Kurt. Well, it wasn't exactly odd _but_ it certainly didn't sit well with her. Kurt filled her in on how Sue wanted him and Mercedes to lose weight that week. Blair almost lost it when he said Mercedes needed to lose ten pounds in one week.

Blair ended the call there and went straight home to have a little chat with Sue. Waiting until she cooled off was not an option, she intended to talk to Sue right off. So when Blair saw Sue setting up a movie for that evening, she stormed right over to her. "What the hell are you thinking telling Mercedes she has to lose ten pounds in a week just to stay on the Cheerios?!"

Sue brushed that off like it was nothing. "I don't actually expect her to do it. I'm expecting her to prove to me that she doesn't."

Blair held her hands at the side of her head before shooting them outward while trying to find the right words. "Sue! Oh my god! Mercedes is essentially starving herself to lose the weight! This isn't one of your empowerment lessons for me, Sue. Mercedes doesn't get how your mind works! She's taking you seriously!"

Sue could understand Blair's rage but didn't respond with any of her own. Instead she sat down on the sofa and patted the seat beside her. "Come sit."

Blair scoffed and plopped down beside her with crossed arms. "I can't believe you're doing this."

"I get that, but listen to where I'm coming from. This whole world is set up against people who are different. Lima isn't even the tip of the iceberg, it's hardly even a snowflake landing on the iceberg."

Blair had no idea what Sue was talking about. "Get to the point, Sue."

"And here I thought you liked details." Sue grinned but could see that wasn't appreciated so she went back to what she was talking about. "As I was saying, this world is set up against anyone who's different. Mercedes is no exception. She has accepted herself and – don't you dare tell anyone I said this – I applaud her for that, but she hasn't found her way to tell the world they need to accept her, too. If she can't stand up to me about it, how is she or anyone else going to be able to stand up to the world?"

Blair's firmly placed shoulders slouched a bit. "So you're saying that this whole terrible thing is masked as a lesson?" She rubbed her face with both hands. "You're sadistic, Sue."

"You say sadistic, I say genius." Sue picked up two DVDs from the table. "Which do you want to watch tonight? The musical with the kidnapper lumberjacks or four eyes with the magic wand?"

Blair sighed resignedly and pointed to Seven Brides for Seven brothers. "Harry Potter next time."

"Your choice." Sue got up to put the movie in and as she did, said, "Don't tell Aretha what I'm up to. How is she going to learn if others give her the answers?"

"I'm not going to let her starve herself." Blair was very adamant about that.

Sue didn't say anything more about this and just picked up the remote to hit play.

* * *

Blair called Mercedes that night because this wasn't something that could wait until morning. "Hey, Mercedes. Look, I'm just going come right and say don't starve yourself. I don't care what my insane Godmother told you, you don't have to do anything."

Mercedes sighed, knowing it was just a matter of time before Blair heard about what was going on. "Blair, I appreciate what you're saying but I want to do this. I want to lose the weight and stay on the Cheerios. I know what I'm doing."

Blair couldn't believe Mercedes was being this hardheaded. "Changing yourself to please someone else isn't worth it!"

"I got to go. See you at school." Mercedes ended the call there.

A high pitched gasp escaped Blair when she realized Mercedes had hung up on her. "Are you kidding me?"

Sue was standing at the doorway of Blair's room and heard the conversation. "I told you she needed to learn it for herself."

Blair turned to face Sue and fell back onto her bed with a groan because while this was initially thought to be a normal Reality, she was starting to learn that there really wasn't much normalcy in it.

* * *

Blair couldn't get what was going on with Mercedes our of her head but when she tried to talk to her about it at school Mercedes didn't want to hear a word of it. Apparently this was something Mercedes was going to have to learn on her own and while Blair hated it, she wasn't going to interfere anymore.

Blair was thinking about this while getting into her locker. She didn't even realize Puck had come up to her until he said something.

"Uh oh, I know that face. What's up?"

"Nothing." Blair groaned when she realized she had put the wrong books into her bag and proceeded to swap them out appropriately.

"Okay now I know there's really something going on." Puck waited to see if she'd say something and when she didn't, he decided to do a little prodding. "I seem to remember an agreement about trying to be friends. I pretty sure talking to each other is a part of that."

As much as Blair wanted to be annoyed with him for pointing that out to her, she couldn't. "Fine." Blair closed the locker and turned to face him. "You know how Sue does all sorts of messed up things to teach me a lesson or moral or whatever?" When Puck nodded, she continued. "Well now Sue is doing that to Mercedes and Mercedes won't listen to me."

"Don't punch me for this, but maybe it's something she needs to learn? Based off everything I've learned about Sue from you, she's a complete whack job but she has a heart somewhere. Just go with the flow and see what happens."

"I'm starting to feel like there's a lesson in this for me, too." Blair crossed her arms and leaned back against the row of lockers.

Now Puck was a bit curious. "And what's that?"

Blair looked down to the floor, not wanting to see him when she answered. "That maybe despite how much I want to fix everything…I can't."

The bell indicating they were going to be late for class so Blair rushed off away from him without another word.

Puck felt pretty good about this progression of their friendship. He and Blair had a conversation that didn't result in yelling or tears or any other strong emotion. It was just…normal. It felt good.

Puck was on his way to class when out of nowhere he was slammed against the lockers. He scoffed a chuckle upon seeing it was Liam who was the culprit. "Normal people say 'hey' when they want someone's attention."

Liam didn't even bother responding to that and got straight to the matter at hand. "Stay the hell away from Blair. You're not going to hurt her again."

Puck shoved Liam off him and actually laughed. "Still got a thing for her, huh? You had your chance, man, and you blew it. You've been friend-zoned. We all see it." His tone went from baiting to serious when he added in, "Not that it's any of your business but I have no intention of hurting her ever again."

Before anything else could be exchanged between them, a teacher came out into the hall and ordered the boys to get to class. They didn't say another word to each other and went their opposite ways to class.

* * *

Last period of school that day was replaced with a pep rally. Blair sat with Rachel and Jesse for it since pretty much all the other spots were taken. Before the rally started, Jesse actually had something to say to her.

"So how are things going at the music shop? You got a job there, right?"

Blair looked at him oddly. "Yeah…how did you know that?" She would have remembered if he was a customer.

"Owen told me there was a new girl who knew more about music than his boss. When he said her name was Blair and was an intimidating little Asian chick, I figured it had to be you." In case she wondered where he knew Owen from, he added in, "Owen is a member of Vocal Adrenaline. He's a senior."

"Thanks for the head's up. I'll be sure not to talk about Glee while I'm at work." Blair had no intention of finishing this conversation so she turned her attention to the Cheerios who were making their way onto the Gymnasium's floor.

Once all the Cheerios where standing in place, Mercedes came out and stood at the microphone. She took a deep breath before speaking into it. "Hey guys. I'm Mercedes Jones. So most of you know Cheerios is about perfection and winning, looking hot and being popular. Well, I thing that it should be about something different. How many of you at this school feel fat?" An array of students raised their hands. "How many of you feel like maybe you're not worth very much?" More students raised their hands, Blair included. "Or you're ugly, or you have too many pimples and not enough friends? Well, I felt all those things about myself at one time or another. Hell, I felt most of those things about myself today. And that just ain't right. And we've got something to say about it. And if you like what we have to say, come down here and sing it with us."

Blair thought she was going to cry when Mercedes started singing 'Beautiful'. She looked over to where Sue was sitting and shook her head slightly with a little smile on her face when Sue nodded once in her direction. How Sue's insanity continually worked, Blair had no idea. If she was back in her own Reality, she'd swear Sue was a Witch. But they weren't in her Reality, so Blair focused on this one and went down with the others to stand and sing with Mercedes and the Cheerios.

Once they were down there, Blair hugged Mercedes then stood beside her to continue with the song. The rest of the Glee kids went down, too, and just about everyone else stood up to show their solidarity. It was such a powerful moment that would never be forgotten. What was just as powerful was that Blair realized something; Maybe home wasn't a place but a feeling. And right there in that moment, singing with the people she cared about, sharing the meaning and the lesson with all those present…she was home.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 16


	17. Old soul

Blair was in the school's library during her free period instead of going to the choir room with the others. She had a shift at her music store after school and wanted to get a jump on her homework. Doing homework was one of the normal, albeit tedious tasks that kept her grounded. Well, she did it for that effect and because she wasn't sure how long she'd be in this Glee-ful Reality so she needed to make sure she'd have some semblance of a future.

Music played in her earbuds as she worked away at the mathematical equations. Math still pissed her off because they always seemed to change it. If it wasn't broken then why fix it? How they wanted the equations solved now took just as long as the other method, so why bother changing it?

Her homework was interrupted when Liam sat in the seat beside her and said something. Due to the music she didn't catch what it was, so she pulled her ear buds from her ears and whispered, "What?"

"Have you seen this?" Liam held his phone towards her with a YouTube video ready to play. When Blair shook her head to indicate she hadn't, he pulled the earbuds plug from her phone and put them into his own. They each took one bud before he hit play.

Moments later a video started playing of a woman dancing to Olivia Newton John's 'Physical'. Blair didn't get the point of watching this until the woman turned around to reveal that it was none other than Sue Sylvester dancing.

Blair smiled and laughed at the video because she thought it was epic. "I can't believe Sue actually posted this."

Liam laughed even more because that wasn't the case. "She didn't."

Yeah…that changed everything. Blair's initial reaction faded away and was replaced with a hardened expression. "Who posted it?" Blair demanded to know. "If Sue didn't post this then who did?"

Liam laughed as he turned off the video and pulled the plug from his phone to return them to her. "No idea but it's hilarious."

"No, Liam, it's not." Blair gathered up her things and practically ran out of there in hopes of finding Sue and giving her a head's up about the video before the entire school found out about it.

Liam didn't get why she was so upset. "Oh, come on. It's funny!" After calling that out to her, he was shushed by the librarian so he apologized and left the library.

* * *

By the time Blair found Sue it was too late. Between what the kids in the hall were saying and Sue's expression, she knew all about the video. That didn't stop Blair from going over to see if she was alright. "Sue…"

Sue was in such an embarrassed rage that she lashed out at her. "Was it you? Did you post that video of me as some sort of payback?"

Blair couldn't believe Sue was asking her that. "Are you kidding me right now? I would never do anything like that! I know I can be a bitch sometimes but I don't go out of my way to hurt or embarrass people. I wouldn't do that, especially to you. You're my family, dammit."

Sue sighed heavily because she really didn't think Blair had done it but the video being posted online like that really threw her for a loop. "You're right, I'm sorry. Just get to class. We'll talk later."

"If I find out who posted it, I give you my word they're going to answer to me." No one messed with her family and got away with it.

Sue didn't doubt it. "Don't do anything to get expelled. It'd look bad for me to have you expelled." That and she didn't want Blair to get into _that_ much trouble.

Blair backed away with an impish smirk upon her face. "No promises."

* * *

On her way to Glee Club, Blair stopped by her locker to swap out her books but her plan was cut short due to a piece of paper that was taped to it. Blair plucked it off and found it was some sort of ranking system – or a 'Glist' – of who's hot and who's not. Quinn was listed as number one, Santana was two, and Blair was tied with Puck for third. "What the hell is this?"

Blair didn't care about swapping out her books that this point and stormed down the hall. She wasn't sure who she intended to talk to about this, but she was pissed as hell. Blair wasn't going to stand for this.

Sue was the first person Blair came upon and decided to side with the evil she knew at that moment and showed her the list. "This isn't right."

"I was coming to find you about it. I just got out of a meeting with Figgins. It seems one of your Glee buddies put it up." Sue crumbled up the paper and threw it into the trash. "Schuester claims he's going to find out who was behind it."

"If he doesn't find out then I will. I hate bullshit like this!" Blair felt like she wanted to punch something. "What is done behind closed doors should stay there and not be put on some sort of – of sexual score ranking list!"

Sue had seen Blair in this sort of mad-mode before and it resulted in them spending the day patching up a hole in her bedroom wall. That wasn't something she wished to repeat. "Deep breaths, Blair. Perhaps you should see Doc today."

Blair took a couple deep breaths before refusing. "I'm fine. I don't need an extra appointment. But if I find out who wrote this I swear that I won't hold back from doing something that might get me expelled."

* * *

At Glee Club, Mr. Schue was not happy about the Glist whatsoever. He started the meeting off with holding it up and demanding to know who was behind it. "Who did it? This is serious. Figgins is threatening to disband the Club."

"If being a part of this Club is going to result in crap like this then maybe it should be disbanded." As much as Blair loved Glee, she wasn't going to put up with this sort of crap.

Santana didn't seemed phased by the situation. "Why are we playing this game? We all know it was Puck."

Puck was quick to defend himself. "Back off. I didn't do squat."

"Then why is Quinn on first and Blair tied with you?" Tina questioned with crossed arms. "It seems like a sneaky backwards way to try and win brownie points with the two of them."

"And why am I last?" Rachel interjected. "Other than the fact that I blew up your pack of lies."

"Enough!" Mr. Schue shouted at the group. "No one is blaming anyone for anything." With a calmer voice he turned to Puck. "But seriously, did you do it?"

Puck defended himself again because he wasn't the culprit. "I said 'no'. I'm a delinquent, sure. I like setting stuff on fire and beating up people I don't know. I own that. But I'm not a liar." He was quick to amend that. "Except for that _one thing_ I'm not a liar."

Mr. Schue was inclined to believe him but that wasn't the present point. "All right, here's the important point. Between this and posting Coach Sylvester's personal video on YouTube, you guys are getting a pretty bad reputation."

"Why is that a bad thing?" Artie questioned. "Maybe if we seem more dangerous people would stop flushing my glasses down the toilet."

"Or maybe if you'd tell me who they were then they'd stop flushing your glasses down the toilet." Blair was more than willing to deal with the creeps.

Artie pondered it for a brief moment. "I'd rather have the bad reputation."

Blair reached her limit there and had enough of it. "That's it, I'm out." She scooped up her bag from the floor and headed for the door.

Mr. Schue didn't intend on letting her leave like that. "Blair, where are you going?"

Blair stopped and turned around on her heels to address the Club with her answer. "I'll come back when this Club had gotten their sense knocked back into them. Bad reputation as a good thing? Seriously? Who cares if you're not popular! You've got your lives and your friends and so much other stuff going for you. Popularity that isn't going to mean shit after High Schoo0?l – _That's_ what you're worried about?" She scoffed and waved her hand towards the group. "Once you've got your priorities straight, let me know. Until then…I quit."

The majority of the members were shocked to hear her say that before she walked out. Finn was the first to speak up. "She can't quit, Mr. Schue. We can't let her quit."

Mr. Schue wasn't sure what else to say at that moment other than, "If that's the way you all feel about it then you're gonna have to figure it out with her on your own."

* * *

Blair was seated at her usual lunch spot on the staircase outside when her lunchmates joined her. Liam sat where he usually did a couple steps ahead of Blair and Finn sat a couple below. It was only a matter of time before one of them brought up her outburst and quitting of Glee and she was making mental wagers with herself as to who would crack first. To her surprise it was Liam – she was betting on Finn.

"What was up with that 'Rachel moment' earlier?" Liam asked casually before opening up his container of grapes and popping one into his mouth.

Blair raised her brow a bit at how he asked his question and answered with one of her own. "Rachel moment?"

Finn elaborated on that one. "Well, yeah, she's usually the one who storms out and quits. Not you."

Now that it was explained, Blair couldn't get offended by their description of it. After all, it was pretty damn accurate. "True, but I feel my reaction is justified. I don't like what the Club is turning into and I don't want to be a part of it that's how it's going to be."

Liam leaned forward on his knees while talking to her. "So you're going to throw all the good stuff away because someone made the Glist? You're going to let one person sway your decision? That doesn't seem like you."

"It's not one person, Liam. Did you not hear what was said today? Bad reputations are better than nothing at all? I've had my fair share of dealing with bad reputations and I have no intention of doing it again." Blair stole one of his grapes and tossed it up in the air before catching it with her mouth.

Finn turned around to look up at her. "What will it take for you to come back?" He hated the idea of her not being there.

"I'm pretty sure I've already said what would need to happen. Everyone needs to smarten the hell up." Blair gathered up her things because she wanted to see if the Auditorium was empty so she could work on something before her next class. "I'm too old for this crap," Blair muttered as she walked down the stairs.

Liam and Finn exchanged weird expressions with each other before Liam called out to her, "You're the same age as us!"

"Old soul, boys!" Blair answered as she continued walking away. "Old freaking soul."

* * *

Lucky for Blair, the Auditorium wasn't being used so leaned against the piano, pulled out her cellphone and scrolled through a song list. She was just about to hit the play button but stopped when she heard footsteps behind her. Blair looked around to see Liam heading her way. "You following me now?"

"Lucky guess." Liam sat on the nearby piano bench. "You still doing the assignment even though you quit?"

Blair put an end to that theory. "I'm making a CD for my aunt so I need to rehearse." Since Jean loved them so much Blair continued making them for her.

"Need some help? I'm sure they've got a guitar around here somewhere." Liam knew he wouldn't get anywhere with her as far as rejoining Glee was concerned, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try and spend time with her.

Blair set her phone face down on the piano. "Do you understand why I've quit Glee?" It was bothering her that no one seemed to get it.

Liam shrugged a bit. "Sure. Sue's methods are rubbing off on you."

Blair drummed her fingers on the piano before asking, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You think the Club needs to learn a lesson so you're doing something ridiculously insane to make sure it's learned. Sound familiar?" Liam didn't realize he was dancing on thin ice until that moment.

Blair tapped her phone before swiping it up. She opened her mouth to speak but pressed her lips together in order to find the right words. "I'm going to let that slide because despite how much you remind me of someone, you're not them. _You_ weren't there, so you have no idea what happened."

Liam was confused during some of it but one point stuck out so he just focused on that. "Then tell me what happened. Let me get to know you. All I know about is your life since Lima and a few tidbits from before. Why won't you talk about it?"

Blair picked her bag off the floor and put it over her shoulder. "Because no matter how I try to explain it you'll just think I'm insane." She snapped her finger and pointed at Liam in an 'oh, that's right' manner. "You'll just think I'm _ridiculously_ insane." She scoffed lightly and left the Auditorium.

It wasn't Liam's fault that she couldn't tell him about her Reality and everything else, but she was just so frustrated about everything and unfortunately took it out on him.

Liam didn't get what happened to make her react like that but clearly there was something more going on than what she was saying. If only he could get her to talk to him but he had no idea how to make it happen.

* * *

Blair had an appointment with Doc after school but despite everything that was on her mind she didn't really say much and kept her eyes on the clock.

Doc took off his reading glasses and set them aside atop his notepad. "You do know you have the freedom to cancel appointments you don't wish to attend, don't you? These sessions aren't mandatory. No one is forcing you to be here."

"I know," was all Blair had to say in response to that without looking away from the clock.

"I am all for sitting in silence if that is what you wish to do, but I have a feeling you'd rather talk so let's talk." He looked at the clock as well and then it made sense. "You are waiting to speak so you can make a quick get away afterwards aren't you?"

Since he knew what she was doing there was no point in putting it off any longer. "What's your take on reputations?"

Doc thought this was an interesting place to start but have his personal opinion. "I think they can be pretty misleading, at least where bad ones are concerned. They're usually based off one mistake or a rumor and are much harder to shake than it is to achieve a good one." He put his glasses back on and picked up the notepad. "Can I ask why?"

"My friends think having a bad reputation is better than none at all – that maybe they'd be respected if they had a bad one. And I quit Glee because the entire club pretty much agreed about it and I couldn't deal with that crap." Blair looked down at her hands as she picked at the purple nail polish. "I knew someone, someone very close to me, who was destroyed by a bad reputation. Granted he did a lot to deserve it _but_ it was the reputation that skewed the views of others whenever he tried to do some good. They always assumed he had some sort of ulterior motive or had something to gain by his good deeds. It broke something inside him and I'd hate to see that happen to anyone else. I don't think I could handle seeing it happen to anyone else."

Doc made note of this before asking, "Did you happen to mention any of this to your friends?"

Blair shook her head with a scoff. "I shouldn't have to explain every detail of my past to make my point."

"There's a difference between making your point and actually letting someone get to know you." Doc set his notepad aside again and leaned forward a little bit to say, "I understand that you let someone in before and they ended up breaking your heart but that does not mean everyone will."

"But that's what everyone does," Blair countered as she look up at him. "Everyone I let in either breaks a piece of me or dies. What's the point of letting people get to know the real me if…"

Doc cut her off there because this was something they'd gone over time and time again but she still didn't seem to get it. "Human connection, Blair. You can list off all the cons and what-ifs you want, but what it all boils down to is human connection. We need it in our life, even if it's limited. My younger sister hated being around people but she had one best friend that knew everything about her and that was more than enough. So whether you let one person in or a hundred, the number doesn't matter. You can't keep everyone at arm's length forever, Blair."

He waited for her to respond to that but since she didn't, he continued on from there. "After what happened with Puck and where your mind went to that day you have been living your life, and I applaud you for that, but Blair...when was the last time you felt alive?"

Blair didn't want to answer that question and pointed to the clock. "Well look at that, time's up."

Doc didn't try to keep her there longer and just said, "We'll pick this up at our next session," as she made her way to the door and walked right through it.

* * *

Since Sue had to work late that night, Blair brought some supper to her after seeing Doc. Presently they were eating in Sue's office at the High School. Sue stuck her fork in the salad before breaking through the heavy silence in the room. "I hear you quite Glee."

Blair figured she'd have heard about it sooner or later. "Mr. Schue come to talk to you? Or was it Doc?"

"Doc knows better than to break you confidentiality like that," Sue countered. "I know that because I've tried and he didn't budge." Sue set her own fork aside. "Actually, who told me was your football buddy, the Hudson beanstalk."

" _Finn_ came to talk to you?" Blair found that a bit hard to believe. "Finn's terrified of you."

"He still is, but he seems to care about you. You've got some loyal friends there, stubborn goddaughter of mine. Are you sure you're willing to turn your back on them?"

"Coming form the person who's pissed at Glee because one of them posted your video? That's rich." Blair set her take-out container on Sue's desk, suddenly losing her appetite. "Why can't I just do something without having to explain it? What? Because I'm messed up I have to report every single thought process to make sure I don't take a step off the ledge again?"

Sue knew how frustrating Blair found all this, but it was necessary. "If making sure you're not holding all your pain inside is the cost of making sure nothing happens to you, then yes that is what you're going to do. You don't have to explain your actions, but you can't keep everything buried inside either. You can't have it both ways."

Their conversation was interrupted when Sue's telephone rang. Sue had half a mind to ignore the call but answered it. "You're go for Sue." After listening to someone claim to be Olivia Newton John, she was not amused. "Nice try. And that's a ridiculous accent." On that note, she slammed the phone down.

"You're getting prank phone calls now?" Blair clenched the arms of her chair. "Now I'm _really_ pissed."

Before Sue could say anything else, the phone rang again. This time Blair was the one who answered it. "Listen here, whoever you are, you better quit messing with Sue. You mess with her and you mess with me and that _really_ something you don't want to do…" Blair's jaw dropped when she heard the voice on the other end of the line speak and explain herself. "One moment please."

Sue looked at Blair oddly as she put it on speakerphone and returned the receiver. After Blair waved at her to speak, she said again, "You're go for Sue."

"Hi, as I was explaining to the young lady before, I am Olivia Newton John."

Sue cut her off there. "Sing something." When they sang, there was no doubt it was her.

Now that it was confirmed she was indeed who she claimed to be, Olivia went on with the reason for her call. "Listen, Sue, I'm headed for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a sanctuary for orphaned koalas, but I heard my daughter Chloe laughing at something on the internet the other day and I saw your video. And I just have to ask, whatever would possess a person to do something like that?"

Sue sighed before answering, "Well, I gotta tell you, Olivia, that video was never meant for public consumption. Some people enjoy videotaping themselves being intimate with a partner. I happen to enjoy revisiting the impeccable form of my various jazzercise routines."

There were two things Blair couldn't believe. She couldn't believe that Olivia Newton John was talking to Sue and she sure as hell couldn't believe what Sue was saying to her. Even so, this was so freaking awesome!

"Well, it got me thinking," Olivia continued. "Physical was the biggest hit of my career. It spent ten weeks at number one. Unfortunately, I botched the video, which, by the way, was one of the first music videos ever. But I filled it with obese men in spandex and it went over the top, and the song went with it. But I saw your YouTube video, Sue, and I realized that now is the time save it and possibly you. I'll be in Ohio tomorrow chairing a benefit for Saving the Rainforests at King's Island."

Sue was mighty confused and wasn't sure what Olivia was getting at. "I don't understand."

Blair practically squealed, "She wants to redo the Physical music video and have you in it!"

Olivia laughed at the reaction. "That is exactly what I was getting at. We can go over the particulars tomorrow. I'll be in touch."

Sue and Blair shared shocked and awed expressions with each other before Sue spoke, "That was Olivia Newton John. That was Olivia Newton John!" The pair shared an excited squeal with each other before Sue cleared her throat and composed herself. "You tell anyone I did that and you're grounded for a month."

Blair sat back in her chair and moved her fingers across her lips like she was closing up a zipper. "I didn't hear or see a thing." Okay, it was official, this Reality was so freaking weird and Blair was rediscovering her love for it.

* * *

That weekend was ultimately the best weened ever! Blair went along with Sue to the studio where the music video was being filmed, was able to stay and watch the whole thing, met the incredible Olivia Newton John and got the legend to sign her vinyl copy of the Grease soundtrack. So, yeah, best weekend ever! At least in that Reality.

Monday at school rumors were all around Mr. Schue being…well…a slut. Those rumors just reaffirmed the point that a bad reputation was so much easier to gain than a good one and that much harder to get rid of.

This was something Blair and Sue were actually discussing, using Mr. Schue's situation as example, when they walked down Mckinley's hallway and were suddenly stopped by a terrified looking Kurt.

"Coach Sylvester, Blair, can I just have a minute of your time?"

"What do you want, ladyface?" Sue felt Blair's glare for that and changed her response to, "Speak, Blair's gay friend."

Kurt took a deep breath before saying, "You're aware that a tape was leaked onto the internet, causing you to become a national laughing stock? We stole the tape from your pills and syringe drawer. We posted it online. We'll accept whatever punishment you see fit, and Blair we will not even attempt to block our faces when you punch us."

Blair crossed her arms and nodded at Sue when she turned back to her.

Sue nodded back. Looking to Kurt, she said, "So it was you. I can't thank you enough." With a genuine smile she walked away.

Kurt had no idea what had just happened and looked back to Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and Brittany for any insight but found none. It wasn't until Blair tapped on his shoulder to make him turn around that he got a little insight.

"Look it up." Blair placed her hand on Kurt's shoulder and leaned forward to whisper a bit of advice. "But **never** pull anything like that again. You won't be so lucky next time." She quickly pecked Kurt's cheek. "Later, Loser."

Kurt stammered out, "L – later, Jerk," and turned back to the others when she walked away. Since the only hint they were given was to look it up, that was exactly what they intended to do.

* * *

It felt weird not going to Glee rehearsal but since they were meeting in the Choir Room, Blair hung out in the Auditorium since it was free period for those who weren't in clubs. She didn't think anyone would go in there since Drama was doing stuff outside that day, so it surprised her when another person joined her on stage. It surprised her even more to see it was Finn.

Blair had been playing on tune on the piano but stopped and stood up to meet him. He looked pissed and betrayed and a blend of other emotions. "Whoa, Finn, what happened?"

"You were right. About the whole reputations thing, you were right. Rachel did a music video and casted me, Jesse, Liam, and Puck in the same role to make herself look like some slutty girl singer with a bunch of guys fighting over her. She cared more about making that kind of reputation for herself than her relationships."

Blair felt bad for Finn, especially since she knew he still had a thing for Rachel so she hugged him. Words seemed to fail her at that moment because it wasn't about being right, it was about doing the right thing.

Finn hugged her back, feeling a bit better that she didn't say any form of 'I told you so'. That didn't stop him from saying, "We should listen to that old soul of yours more often," though.

Blair laughed as she moved from their embrace. "I know I don't know everything, but I know enough to make a point."

"What else do you know, oh wise lady?" Finn asked with a chuckle as he leaned on the piano.

Blair sat on the stool and waved her hand towards him. "What would like to learn?"

Finn thought for a moment before coming up with something. "Who's the person Liam reminds you of? He may have mentioned you got a little weird about it."

Blair even had to admit she thought she was a little weird when she made the comparison that day. "His name's Matt. We grew up together, and Liam reminds me of him so much I sometimes forget who exactly I'm talking to, but it makes me miss home a little less."

Finn moved around the piano and sat down beside Blair on the stool. "Does anything else around Lima make you think of home?"

"Not really, this town is like a whole different world compared to where I came from." Blair put one leg over the stool so her legs were hanging on either side as she faced him. With a deep breath she took a step towards taking Doc's advice. "You mind if I tell you some more about it?"

Finn's brows shot up at that because Blair _never_ really wanted to talk about her life before Lima and felt pretty honored that she chose to talk to him. "Take it away."

Blair knew that she couldn't tell Finn everything but she picked a point of her life to start with just started talking…

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 17


	18. Family

Blair was leaning against a wall in McKinley's hallway while texting Kai to finalize arrangements since he and his daughter would be spending the week in Lima. Apparently her cousin was homeschooled so she wouldn't be missing any days – something Blair asked about since she thought it was weird.

Anyway, Blair was texting when all of a sudden there was a sudden influx of gasping and whispering around her. Normally she'd ignore it but something made her look up and she saw the source; Puck. It took Blair a moment or two to get what they were all going on about until she realized he didn't have his mohawk anymore. As much as it pained her to admit it, she thought he looked hotter without it but Puck didn't seem too pleased with his new appearance.

Blair quickly finished up her text and caught up with him down the hall. "What inspired the new hairdo?"

Puck didn't want to have this conversation in a crowded hallway with all the students staring at him, so he guided into a more secluded area down the hall. Once he looked around to make sure no one was near, he filled Blair in on what happened. "My mom found a mole on my head and made me see a dermatologist. He had to shave my head to get a better look at it and guess what? It was nothing. They maimed me over a freaking mole!"

"Maimed you? That's a bit of a stretch, Puck. It's just hair and it'll grow back." Blair reached out and rubbed his head. "Honestly, I think you better this way." She knew how Puck felt about his mohawk being a measurement of how tough he was, so she was trying to make him feel a little less insecure about it.

Puck was stunned for a minute when Blair said and did that. "Seriously?" He smirked at her afterwards.

Blair rolled her eyes at his expression. "Don't let it go to either one of your heads, Puck."

Puck held his hands up and chuckled, "Yes, ma'am." Once their playful banter was set aside, he asked her seriously, "What's gonna happen until my hair grows back? People who used to be terrified of me are daring to look me in the eye!"

Blair thought for a moment and came to the obvious conclusion. "Karma."

Puck's expression dropped. "That doesn't make me feel any better."

"You've come a long way from the football asshole you used to be, but there are still some lines of respect you need to learn." Blair shrugged. "Maybe a bite from karma will do you some good."

Puck dropped his head with a groan before saying, "See you in Glee."

"You say that every time we see each other and my answer hasn't changed. I'm not in Glee anymore and don't see myself rejoining again any time soon." Blair was staying firm with this decision even though pretty much the majority of the Club were keeping her in the loop and Mike was making sure she was staying up to date with the choreography so she'd be ready when she did come back. Even with all that, it just didn't feel like time.

"We'll see." Puck left it at that and went to the choir room leaving Blair to go to the library as planned.

* * *

After school, Mr. Schue caught up with Blair. She figured he knew what he wanted but joined him in the empty choir room per his request anyway. "What's up, Mr. Schue?" Blair dropped her bag on the floor and sat down on one of the seats in the front row.

"When you quit Glee, I honestly didn't think it'd last this long. I told everyone it was up to them and convince you to come back and despite their attempts, you haven't. So now I'm asking you to." Mr. Schue pulled over a chair to sit down in front of her. "Glee hasn't been the same since you left. I knew morale was down, but thanks to Rachel I now realize that half the kids aren't even participating. Despite what you may think, the Club needs you."

"I miss it, I'm not going to lie, but it doesn't feel right anymore. I'm sorry, Mr. Schue, but I don't want to come back. At least not right now." Blair picked up her bag and stood up to leave. "And if me quitting was enough to make them not care anymore then they're not in it for the right reasons. They need to want to sing for themselves. I would have thought you'd have already come to that conclusion."

Mr. Schue took her words to heart and before Blair left he had something to say to her. "As I'm sure you know, Regionals is in a month, but your spot will always be open if you decide to come back."

Blair scoffed a chuckle. "What spot? Yeah, at the beginning you gave everyone a chance to shine but now you've got your favorites and they're the ones that shine while the rest of us are just the backdrops."

Mr. Schue didn't think he deserved that. "That's not what I'm doing."

She practically bursted out laughing when he did that. "Are you kidding me? That exactly what you do! Jesse shows up and you give him all the make solos. Rachel is the only one you consider for the female ones. This entire Club is filled with talented people but you've got tunnel vision, Mr. Schue. I don't know how it happened or why but it did. If there was another Glee club at this school I bet half the kids would join that one instead because maybe, just maybe, they'd have a chance to shine."

Maybe Blair went a little too far, but it was too late to take it back now. "So, yeah, I'm not ready to come back yet. Good luck, Mr. Schue." She gave him a bit of a salute before leaving the Glee Club and then the school, leaving a stunned silent Mr. Schue in her wake.

* * *

Blair went to Kai's house after school and it was honestly _so weird_. Whenever he was in town before they'd have dinner or he'd come over to Sue's but things were different now and it was weird trying to fit into a different family scenario. Not that she had to do much fitting into at the moment since no one seemed to be there yet.

"Hello?" Blair called out as she set her bags on the floor in the foyer. "Anybody home?"

"Kitchen!" Leyla answered followed by some coughing.

Blair's brows furrowed at that and headed straight there to find the kitchen completely covered with baking ingredients, and there was Leyla wearing an apron completely covered in flour. Blair couldn't help but laugh at her younger cousin. "Aside from the obvious…what are you doing?"

"Since this was our first night here

"Since this was our first night here I wanted to make something special for dessert but I apparently can't bake." Leyla sat down at the kitchen island in defeat.

Blair felt sorry for Leyla and went over to give her a side hug, not caring that she was going to be covered in flour as well. "We can fix this. I am an _excellent_ baker." She looked around and asked, "Where's Kai?"

"I kicked him out because I wanted it to be a surprise. He's in the garage." Leyla made sure not to mention the part where he was soundproofing it for Blair so she could sing and record and whatnot out there if she wanted to. That was going to be a surprise.

"Okay then, we better get baking before he comes back." Blair rubbed her hands together and looked around for a recipe card or a cookbook but didn't see anything. "What recipe were you using?"

Leyla winced a bit in embarrassment. "I don't have one. I was winging it."

"I admire your tenacity, cuz, but next time use a recipe. Good thing I remember an awesome recipe or two. Let's see what you have and get started. But first - " Blair pulled out her phone, picked out a playlist and hit play, "- we need some music. Trust me, it makes all the difference."

Leyla laughed and followed Blair's lead, already feeling like they were a family.

Kai was just about finished for the day on the garage and was about to head inside until he heard some music coming from the house. He went around to the kitchen window and smiled when he saw Blair and Leyla dancing around while mixing up something in the kitchen. Not about to disturb them, he went back to the garage for a bit longer.

* * *

The dessert was successfully put into the oven and the kitchen cleaned moments before the take-out food arrived. Blair was helping Kai set the table when there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it," she informed Kai, thinking it would be Sue since she didn't think it'd be anyone else. Only it wasn't Sue, but Kurt.

Blair opened the door with a smile. "Hey, Loser." Her smiled dropped a little bit when he seemed to be upset about something. "You alright, Kurt?"

"My dad is taking Finn to a baseball game and he didn't even think to take me along. I don't want to bother you or anything…"

Blair cut him off there. "You're never a bother, you know that." She stepped aside and let him come into the house. "Come on." She led him into the dining room where Kai and Leyla were getting ready to sit and introduced them. "Kurt, this is my uncle Kai and my cousin Leyla. Kai, Leyla, this is my friend Kurt. He's home alone tonight so is it okay if he has dinner with us?"

Kai had heard plenty of stories about Kurt from Blair so he had no issue with this. "Of course, welcome. I hope you like Chinese…and Thai…and Indian…and pizza."

"We couldn't agree so we ordered some of everything," Leyla laughed.

"It all sounds wonderful. Thank you." Kurt smiled and sat down at the table beside Blair.

"You're welcome. Feel free to pick whatever you like and dig in. After dinner we have the brownies the girls made and a game of Masterpiece."

Kurt gasped at that. "The artwork auction board game? I love that game."

"Me, too," Blair, Leyla, and Kai all said in unison causing laughter amongst them all before digging in.

The dinner went so well. Stories were told by each of them, Kurt laughed so hard at an unexpected joke from Leyla that he shot water from his nose, and everything went great. Blair could still see the hurt in Kurt's eyes but she could also see how much he appreciated this.

* * *

After Kurt left that night, Blair helped Kai with the dishes in the kitchen. "Thank you for letting Kurt stay."

"He seems like a good kid." Kai handed Blair a couple plates to put in the dishwasher. "I must admit it's nice putting a face to one of the names you've been telling me about. I must admit I was starting to think you were making some of them up."

Blair chuckled as she put the dishes in. "If I was in your shoes I'd probably think the same thing. Sometimes I find them hard to believe myself and I'm the one living it."

Kai didn't want to ruin this lighthearted moment but there was something he wanted to ask her. "How are you doing Blair?"

Blair leaned back against the counter and shrugged. "It's a roller coaster at times. Some days are better than others and all that jazz, but right now…I'm okay."

Kai was glad to hear that, but his eyes went to the scars on her arms – he couldn't help that he was worried. "If that ever changes you'll tell someone, right? It doesn't have to be me, but someone."

"I've got a support system in place, Kai. I'm good." Blair was going to leave it at that but changed her mine when she said, "Thanks." She then waved her hand forward, "I'm going to head up to bed. It's a school night and all."

Kai didn't try to keep her longer. "Good idea. Goodnight, Blair."

"Night, Kai." With that said, she went to the foyer to grab her things and went up to her room.

Once Kai was certain she was there, he pulled out his cellphone and called Sue per their agreement. When Sue answered, he greeted her with, "She's fine."

"You're certain?" Sue needed to be sure.

Even thought Sue couldn't see it, Kai nodded. "Yes, I'm certain. If it changes, you'll be the first to know." He paused for a moment. "Thank you for not fighting me on Blair spending time here while I'm in town."

Sue was quiet on her end of the line before she finally said, "You're welcome," and ended the call there.

Kai wasn't surprised she did that and returned the cellphone to his pocket before also turning in for the night.

* * *

The next few days for Blair were honestly like a weird dream. Kurt was dressing in flannel, baseball caps, ill-fitting jeans and talking in a deeper voice; Puck and Mercedes were apparently dating, and Rachel had been walking around in her pajamas.

Blair had tried to talk some sense into Kurt but it she came to the conclusion that it was something had to figure out on his own. She learned that Puck was with Mercedes to boost up his rep and she hoped karma bit him in the ass for that, and Rachel was sick with tonsillitis feeling sorry for herself. Instead of getting involved with any of that, Blair decided to let it all run their courses and see what happened.

After school that day, Blair went to the empty Auditorium to do the Glee assignment. She knew she wasn't in the Club anymore, but when Finn, Liam, and the others told her what the assignment was she couldn't stop herself from doing it…even if no one was there to listen. A solo song to express what they were feeling in that moment? It sounded like something Blair needed to do and wondered if she had any part of Mr. Schue having them do it.

Blair sat down at the piano and put the sheet music of the chosen song in front of her. With a deep breath she started playing the opening notes to 'Go the Distance' from Hercules.

Mr. Schue was on his way to get something from his office when he passed the Auditorium and heard music coming from within. He could recognize that voice from anywhere so he went inside and took a seat in the back row, watching as Blair played the piano and sung her heart out. Hearing her in that moment was like the first time – so much raw emotion channeled into the music.

He didn't make his presence known until she was finished. Mr. Schue stood up and clapped as he headed down to the stage. "That was amazing."

"I didn't realize anyone was listening." Blair gathered up the sheet music and put it into her bag.

Mr. Schue had gone up the steps to join her on stage. "Blair, I want you to know that I heard what you said and you're right. I've been so focused on Regionals – on _winning_ Regionals that I only focused on those who I thought would make us win instead of giving everyone a chance. That's why I chose to do the solo assignment, to give everyone a chance to shine. And so far I've been blown away." He let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not going to try and make you come back to Glee if you don't want to, but I do want you to know I will handle things differently from now on. The Club is a constellation of talent, not just a couple of stars."

"I just want everyone to have an equal chance, Mr. Schue. I hate when people are cast out in the shadow of someone else." Blair couldn't think of a better way to explain it than that.

"You're a good friend, Blair. Everyone in Glee is lucky to have you on their side." Mr. Schue tapped the piano before backing away. "Like I said before, you're welcome back any time."

"I'll think about it," she called after him as he left the stage but was still kinda torn about it. But she didn't have time to think about Glee right now because she looked at the time and saw if she didn't get a move on then she was going to be late with meeting up with a friend.

* * *

Finn and Liam had introduced Shawn to Blair awhile ago and since then she'd tried to go and visit every couple of weeks or more if she could. Normally they'd watch a movie and have a debate afterwards about whether or not it was actually good compared to the other works the actor had done or anything else they could do with his C4 injury, but no matter what they did she never missed their 'standing appointment' as Shawn called it. He did call it a date once and laughed when Blair pointlessly backhanded him for it.

Presently Blair was at Shawn's house telling him the baking debacle with Leyla. "I'm no kidding. It was like a bakery had exploded in there. I bet there's going to be ingredients in the nooks and crannies for months to come."

Shawn could easily imagine that. "But let me guess, you went all Super Blair and helped her out?"

"Excuse me, It's Wonder Han, and I know what you're trying to do here. You're trying to tell me I have a complex where I need to fix things." Blair waved her finger between them. "We've got the same therapist, Shawn. I know all these tricks."

Okay, yeah, she got him there. "How you hit the nail right on the head is scary sometimes."

Blair laughed at that. "What can I say, I'm good at reading people."

Their conversation was interrupted when Shawn's mother came into the room with Finn and Rachel in tow. Blair didn't expect to see Rachel there _but_ she had a feeling as to why Finn had brought her. Rachel had been feeling extra- _extra_ sorry for herself and he was likely trying to teach her a lesson about that.

Blair looked at Shawn with an 'ooh la la' expression. "Someone's popular today. I'll head out so you guys can visit. I'll see you at our next standing appointment." She winked and said brief goodbyes to Finn and Rachel before leaving the room.

Blair was getting her bag from the hook near the front door when Shawn's mother came over to her.

"I wanted to thank you for coming to visit Shawn. Not a lot of people do anymore and I know it means a lot to him."

"You don't have to thank me. I enjoy our standing appointments." Blair could see the weariness in her eyes. "And if he ever needs anything just let me know and I'll do my best. The same goes for you. I've got connections."

Shawn's mother smiled at her generosity. "I'm still trying to come up with a way to pay you back for covering Shawn's overdue medical bills. I don't know how you pulled it off, Blair, but I know you had something to do with that anonymous donor."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Blair tried her best to be convincing, but it was a lie. After telling Sue about Shawn and the financial situation his mom was in, it didn't take Sue long to transfer money out of a bank in Panama and take care of the bills. How or why Sue has a bank account in Panama, Blair didn't ask, but she'd always be grateful to Sue for that.

Shawn's mother didn't believe her for one second but didn't refute it either. "Okay, well, thank you. See you next time."

"I'll be here." Blair gave her a hug before heading out the door and back to home.

* * *

When Blair got to Kai's place she heard some noises coming from the garage and went to check it out. The closer she got, the more she heard. Presently she heard Sue's voice scolding,

"You better not break those, Kai."

"What's going on?" Blair asked as she rounded the corner to the open garage door and gasped when she saw what was inside. The entire garage was sound proofed with an array of musical instruments of varying shades of purple with a recording system set up in the back. She wanted to ask what all this was for but she was speechless.

"You're early!" Sue exclaimed before she, Kai, and Leyla all held out their arms cheering out, "Surprise!"

Blair finally found her breath and released it as she walked towards them. "What…why?"

"Because music's in your blood," Kai answered with pride. "No when you're here you can jam and maybe teach Leyla a thing or two or whatever you'd like. This is your space, Blair. A home away from home."

"It was Sue's idea," Leyla giggled. "But we helped!"

Blair felt like she was going to cry and so she did. "I – I don't deserve this. I don't deserve any of this."

Sue went over to Blair and gave her a side hug. "How about you let us be the judge of that, yeah?" She rubbed Blair's arm encouragingly. "Come on, sing us something."

Blair wiped away her tears and went over to the keyboard. She adjusted the attached microphone trying to come up with something to play but couldn't. "I think I've forgotten every song I've ever heard." This just made her laugh and cry some more. Suddenly she thought of one from a movie she recently watched with Kai and Leyla and with Sue.

Blair started playing the opening notes to 'Can't Stop the Feeling' and it wasn't long before they were all singing and dancing to it. Blair was so worried about fitting into family scenario that she didn't even realize that a family is what they all already were.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 18


	19. Klaus

Blair and Tina were hanging out at the mall before Blair had her shift at the music store – Allegro – in the same mall. Presently they were in a clothing store trying out a few things and happened to come out of the dressing room stalls at the exact same time wearing almost the exact same outfit; black leggings with holes in them, black pleated skirt, solid-colored tank top with buttons down the front, and black with solid-colored trim vest. The only difference between the outfits was the colors that weren't black on Tina's outfit were dark blue and Blair's were dark purple. The girls both bursted out laughing because of this, especially since it wasn't the first time they'd been compared where their sense of style was concerned.

When the laughing subsided, Blair said, "We are so wearing these to school tomorrow and taking tallies as to how many times we get mistaken for each other."

"It's a plan. Even though it feels sort of racist." Tina made a weird expression before they both laughed and she went back into the changing stall next to Blair's. "So when do you think you're coming back to Glee? If it happened to be within the next week that would be awesome."

Blair paused in her changing to process the tone in which Tina said that in. "There's a bet going around as to when I'm coming back, isn't there?"

"I neither confirm nor deny that assumption." Tina finished changing and came out moments before Blair did so they headed to the checkout together. Since Blair hadn't given her an answer yet, Tina went on to say, "You've taken breaks from Glee before, but this is the longest you've ever gone. It's starting to feel like you're not coming back."

"If I'm to be honest, I didn't think it'd last this long either but it feels like something I need to do. And it's not like I have no clue what's going on – With the exception of like five people in the Club, everyone's keeping me up to date on the song choices and choreography and whatnot. So, if I do decide to come back I'll be ready."

"I'm going to speak for the obvious when I say we miss you. It's weird not hanging with you in Glee. And without you in the Club there's like no one to keep everyone else on their toes. No one dared to pull any crap while you were there." Tina hoped she was making headway on convincing Blair to come back since for the past few weeks since she quit no one had had any luck with her.

"Maybe that's why I needed the break, Tina." They moved ahead in line as the queue progressed. "I couldn't deal with the crap and the drama anymore. This probably sounds dramatic but it's not dramatic for me. It was seriously starting to feel toxic."

Tina knew that the Club had gotten under Blair's skin a time or two – Well, more like certain people had, but she had no idea it'd gotten that bad. If that was the case then she was glad Blair had taken a step back because she saw the aftermath of what happened to Blair when things got to be too much before and she never wanted her friend to go through that again.

Tina changed her tune a bit because of this. "Then come back when you're ready – _if_ you're ever ready. I won't force you to do anything you don't want to."

Blair appreciated that very much and side hugged Tina right before they reached the register.

The middle-aged woman behind the counter smiled at the pair as she rang in their items, saying, "It's just adorable to see twins dressing alike. And you even dye your hair alike, too. That's so sweet."

For a split second Blair thought the woman was being a condescending bitch, but with one look in her eyes she could tell the woman was being generous and decided to play along. "It is. Isn't it, Twinsie?" She turned to Tina with a wide grin.

Tina found such amusement in this and played along. "Oh yeah, Twinster."

The woman beamed at the pair of them and handed over their shopping bags, making sure the matching colors where in the same bags and bid them a good day.

Blair and Tina left the store together but it wasn't until they were out of it that they started laughing again.

"That totally clinched it," Tina laughed as she gestured back to the store. "We are so wearing these outfits tomorrow."

Blair widely grinned before checking to make sure she had the purple bag and was about to ask Tina if she wanted to get a pretzel or something but froze when she caught a glimpse of what she thought was a familiar face down the way going into Allegro.

Tina turned around to see what Blair was staring at but didn't notice anything recognizable. "You okay, Blair?"

Blair snapped herself out of it. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just remembered I have to take care of something before my shift."

Tina looked a little disappointed to hear that. "Okay, well I'll see you at school then."

Blair walked backwards towards Allegro, saying, "I'll be the one dressed like you but cooler because – _purple_."

A high-pitched scoff escaped Tina when Blair said that. "Blue is better!"

Blair waved her hands around her ears. "What? Sorry, can't hear you. Too far away." On that note she waved goodbye to Tina and beelined for Allegro.

There were a handful of people in the music store so it wasn't hard to find who Blair thought she saw. He was standing near the back of the shop but when she got there he was nowhere to be seen. Just when Blair was about to move and look elsewhere, she heard an all too familiar yet younger sounding voice saying from being her,

"Hello, Love."

Blair slowly turned around and looked at the young man behind her in awe. She'd recognize him anywhere even in his younger state. " _Klaus_?" she whispered in shock.

Klaus looked around him unimpressively. "So, _this_ is what you left us for?"

Blair had no idea how she was going to process this – The fact Klaus as in Klaus-Klaus from her Reality seemed to be standing right in front of her, but it didn't matter since she wasn't even given a chance to. Before Blair could even formulate another thought her eyes fluttered towards the back of her head and her entire world went black.

* * *

When Blair awoke she was laying in a hospital bed with one wicked headache. Because of this she thought seeing Klaus, well a younger version of the Klaus from her Reality was just a dream. No such luck.

"There you are," Klaus said from the armchair in the corner of the room. "I would have caught you before you hit your head but my reflexes apparently aren't as quick here." He stood up with an annoyed sigh. "Now that I know what it is like to be human again I have no intention of being one in our Reality." He gently moved some hair out of Blair's face. "I bet you're missing your healing abilities right about now. When you fell I almost bit into my wrist to give you some blood, but then I remembered that would be pointless and likely life threatening to my own being."

Blair heard every word he spoke but she couldn't find her own words to say in reply. Finally, after some loud silence between them, she asked, "How are you here?"

"Same as you; Bonnie." Klaus pulled the chair closer to Blair's bedside and sat upon it once again. "The Spell's link to you was weakening. Apparently you are getting too attached to this world so Bonnie needed a volunteer to come to this Reality to either be your anchor or bring you home. And since I have no intention of staying here any longer than necessary, I will be bringing you home."

Blair sat up with a groan followed by a wince, followed by Klaus telling her to be careful because she likely had a concussion. After glaring at him a bit she made something clear, "I'm not leaving this Reality until I'm ready to and I'm not ready to."

Klaus looked away with a scoff. "I have been in this despicable town for two weeks, Love. Most of that time I have been sick in bed with the flu – more than enough time for my Alter's memories to filter through. I don't care for what life consists of here, so I will be leaving and so will you."

Blair leaned forward and forcefully repeated, "I am not leaving."

Their conversation was interrupted when Sue came into the hospital room and went straight for Blair. "My phone was off, I just got the call. That's the last time I follow my own rules at Cheerios practice."

Blair chuckled lightly and hugged Sue when she came over. "I'm fine, Sue. Promise."

"The doctor happens to agree but still wants you to take it easy." Sue was quite clear about that. She then turned her attention to the young man sitting near Blair's bed. "Who are you? I don't recognize you."

"That's Klaus," Blair answered before he could. "He was there when I fell. He didn't want to leave me alone but now that I'm not, he's leaving."

Klaus was warned this might be challenging to convince Blair to leave because of how connected she had become to this Reality, but that wasn't going to stop him from finding a way to make her want to go back. But for now he'd oblige. "Rest up, Love."

Blair let out a breath of relief as soon as he left the room and looked to Sue. "When can I get out of here?"

"As soon as you tell me why that young Brit just called you 'love'." Sue eyed Blair curiously, expecting an answer.

Blair couldn't help but laugh at that and winced from a sharp pain because of it, but it was worth it. "He uses 'Love' like I use 'Dude'. Don't worry, Sue, I'm not dating anyone behind your back."

"Alright then." Sue took Blair's clothes out of the cubby and set them at the foot of Blair's bed. "We can leave as soon as you're ready." She was about to leave the room but went back to hug Blair again. "You've got to stop scaring me, kid."

Blair closed her eyes and sniffled some approaching tears. "I'm trying, Sue. I'm trying."

* * *

Blair went to school the next day as planned wearing the almost identical outfit as Tina. When she walked down the hall, Artie rolled past her saying, "Hi, Tina," then a few moments later she heard him say again, "Hi, Tina," followed by a louder, "Wait, what?"

Blair laughed at that, especially when she heard Tina call out, "Genius!" in her direction.

Blair stopped at her locker but froze when she heard Klaus' voice say,

"Seems a bit racist if you ask me."

Blair slowly turned and glared at his amused smirk. Even in his youthful Alter it was enough to drive her nuts.

Klaus looked around, taking in his surroundings. "So, this is what you left us for?"

"I'm not talking to you so go back to where you came from." Blair waved her hand in a 'run along' fashion before going into her locker.

"We're linked now, Love. I can go back when you do and not a moment sooner. So instead of playing around in this Reality, let's return to our own?" Klaus leaned closer to whisper, "You can't honestly prefer it here."

Blair slammed her locker shut and looked him right in the eye. "What if I said I did. **Hmm**? What would you say about that?"

"I would say that your Alter has taken a stronger hold upon your life than you realize. This is exactly why I'm here; To keep that from happening and bring you back."

"I've already told you I'm not going back until I'm ready so just go and live your Alter's life without screwing them up to much." Blair started down the hall to get to class even though it was still a little early for that.

Klaus easily matched her pace through the crowd of students in the hall. "I don't understand why you are being so difficult about this."

"Of course you don't," she practically spat back and looked around in hopes of no one from Glee seeing her talking to him. The last thing she wanted was any of her friends asking questions she couldn't answer since she didn't know Klaus' Alter in this Reality.

Klaus was losing his patience for this and took hold of Blair's arm to pull her into an empty classroom. After closing the door behind them he asked of her, "Explain it to me. Explain what makes this – this mundane world so special to you."

"It's not!" Blair shouted back. "There's nothing special about it and that's why I want to stay here!" She dragged her hands over her face with a loud groan before explaining herself fully to him. "There's nothing here that's in Mystic Falls. There are no Witches, or Vampires, or Werewolves. There's no one out to get me, no ritual sacrifices I need to stop. I'm not the Cursed One here." Blair started to cry as she continued. "I can grow old, get married, have a family. I can finally just live one life and live it to the fullest because here…it's the only one I've got. I can do everything and have everything that I can't have in our Reality, Klaus. I can have a life that's _mine_."

Their conversation was interrupted when students started filing into the room for class. At the first chance she got, Blair left and headed towards her own. All Blair wanted was to live this life but Klaus being there just made it all the more difficult. Why did Bonnie send him? Out of all the people why him? Of course Blair knew the answer to that – Out of all the people, Klaus would be the one most likely to convince her to go home.

Instead of following Blair like Klaus believed he should have, he left McKinley's grounds instead. There would be far more opportunities to convince her to return to their Reality. Now that he knew her reasons for staying he just might have to change his approach – something he wasn't usually keen of doing.

* * *

Blair was going to have to stop getting into her locker at school because that always seemed to be the place people cornered her to talk. This time it was someone unexpected since she didn't think she'd said two words to the guy since he transferred in.

When Blair closed her locker Jesse St. James was standing there looking at her suspiciously. "Creepy," was her greeting since she had no idea why he was lurking there.

"I saw you talking to Nik Mikaelson earlier. Perhaps the Glee Club should be looking at you for being a spy."

Blair had no idea what the hell he was talking about and finally it clicked. "Wait, you know Klaus?"

"He lets you call him 'Klaus'?" Jesse was surprised to hear that. "You two must be close. I know him from Vocal Adrenaline. He's a couple grades lower but is determined to be the lead male vocal."

Blair had to plaster her hand over her mouth to keep herself from bursting out laughing at this influx of information. "He's in Vocal Adrenaline?" Never in Blair's life our any prior could she remember Klaus singing _ever_.

Jesse's suspicious gaze intensified. "You don't know that about him?"

Blair came up with a plausible explanation for why she was talking to Klaus. "I had an accident at Allegro yesterday. He went with me to the hospital and was only here today to check in. That's it."

Jesse crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side a little bit. "He barely knows you and yet he lets you call him Klaus? Interesting. You certainly have an effect on people, don't you?" With nothing else to say, he walked off towards the dance studio so he could talk to Rachel.

Blair was about to head to class but leaned back against her locker instead. She took out her phone, put the earbuds in, and went onto YouTube to see if there was evidence of Jesse's claims there. Nothing came up under Klaus Mikaelson so she tried Nik Mikaelson like Jesse said and found his YouTube Channel. "Oh my flying spaghetti monster."

Blair made sure the earbuds were secure before clicking on one of the videos of him singing a song called 'Wish you were here'. Her mouth dropped open because damn he could sing. Her eyes went to the upload date and found it was uploaded just two days ago. Blair was taken aback by that because Klaus said he'd been there for two weeks already but was sick in bed with the flu. But according to this that wasn't true. Blair felt like she had a bit of ammo against Klaus now because clearly her Alter wasn't the only one melding with their counterpart.

* * *

After school Blair did little bit of…snooping and found Klaus' address. It was in the neighborhood that straddled the school boundary line between Carmel High and McKinley. Those who lived there could choose between the two schools and clearly Klaus' Alter had chose Carmel. With his singing voice, no wonder.

Blair went up the address she wrote down and knocked on the door. She was mentally preparing herself for seeing the Alters of Klaus' family; Esther, Mikael, Elijah, etc, etc, etc. Which is why she was surprised to find an unknown man answering the door instead. "Uh, hi. Maybe I don't have the right address. Does Klaus live here?"

The man turned around and called out, "Son, you've got a visitor!" He turned back to her and adjusted his glasses. "He'll be down in a minute. Come on in." He led her inside as he introduced himself. "I'm Ansel, Nik's father."

Blair tried to hold back her shock, but holy crap this is the Alter of Klaus' Werewolf bio-papa! She cleared her throat to keep things from being _too_ awkward after his introduction. "Blair, a semi-friend of Klaus. Or Nik as everyone seems to call him." Yeah, there was no way she'd ever call Klaus 'Nik'.

As if on cue, Klaus came downstairs and joined them in the foyer. Upon seeing Blair, he smirked. "Hello, Love."

Ansel decided to leave the pair be and excused himself. "I have some work to do for the museum. If you need anything I'll be in my office. It was lovely to meet you Blair."

"You, too," Blair replied then rolled her eyes for saying it once he was out of sight. She waited another moment of two before whispering to Klaus, " _That_ ' _s_ your father?"

"It was a surprise for me too." Klaus led her into the living room and lounged back into one of the armchairs there. "It seems my Alter lives with him the majority of the time and only spends the Summers with Esther and Mikael and my siblings."

Blair sat on the sofa across from the chair Klaus was sitting in. "Is that enough of a reason to convince you to stay in this Reality? No one's after you either. You can have a life here, Klaus. A fresh start. Don't deny that there's some part of you who has wanted that."

"I have no interest in spending the rest of my days here." Klaus was adamant about that.

Blair raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. "And yet you updated your Alter's YouTube channel?"

Klaus' response to that was simple. "I blame that on my Alter. Their influence is strong without reminders of our Reality. Hence why we need to anchor each other before going back."

Blair dropped her head because she was getting nowhere with him. Finally she thought of a compromise. "Okay, I'm willing to make a deal with you, Klaus. If you spend some times here in this Reality and after that time you still think we should go back then I will."

Klaus was intrigued by this proposition. "How long?"

Blair hadn't gotten that far. "What's the time difference between here and our Reality. Months have passed since I've arrived."

"Days have passed since you've been under the Spell's influence." It seemed a month in this Reality was a day in their own.

"Okay, how about a few months then? That's only a few more days in our Reality." Blair stood up and went over to Klaus with an extended hand. "Deal?"

Klaus thought about it and nodded. He stood up and shook her hand in agreement. "Deal." He had no doubt that he would want to leave when the time was up and so she'd have to no choice but to leave with him.

Blair wasn't sure how exactly she was going to convince Klaus to stay and let her stay as a result, but maybe she didn't have to appeal to Klaus himself but enough to his Alter? Perhaps if his Alter blended enough then that would be all she needed to convince him. Either way, she'd have to come up with something because the clock was ticking down her time left in this Gleeful reality.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 19


	20. Let out freak flags fly

**A/N: Hey, Readers, not sure if this counts as a Trigger Warning but I'm putting it anyway:** _ **Trigger Warning – Use of the word 'Fag' and variations thereof.**_

* * *

Since Blair struck the deal with Klaus about going back to their Reality she decided to go back to Glee Club. How could she possibly convince him as to why she should stay if she wasn't taking part in one of the most important things? If Blair ever used Finn, Liam, Tina or any of the others as reasons then Klaus would have countered with questioning if they meant so much to her then why did she essentially abandon them during an important time in this Reality? Yeah…no…Blair was so not going to give him any foreseeable ammunition.

So after a long talk with Mr. Schue and a promise that she wouldn't have any more 'Rachel storm-outs' unless they were justified, Blair was let back into Glee Club. Blair needed to clear the air between them, especially after she accused him of playing favorites, and was glad they were able to or else she wouldn't have felt right about returning.

Blair was presently thinking about Klaus and their arrangement when she walked into school and almost walked right into a bunch of girls wearing Vampire fangs, cheaply designed Dracula capes, and 'Team Edward' t-shirts who were hissing and whatnot at anyone who passed them by. Blair _almost_ let whatever that was slide but she couldn't help herself. She turned around on her heels and went over to the little Vampire posse to say, "If you're going to do the whole Vampire thing at the very least pick one lore and stick to it. Because this whole Twi-Drac-True Blood thing you've got going on here is just giving me a headache."

"Who died and made you the Vampire expert?" One of the girls sassily asked her before hissing.

Blair flexed her hands before clenching them in a blend of annoyance and frustration before deciding to have a little fun. She tilted her head a bit at them while mustering up the most eerie expression she could and took a slow step forward. "I could tell you that but then I would have to kill you."

The Vampire posse seemed to all share the same creeped out feeling because after brief looks at each other then took off down the hall.

Blair laughed as they ran off, honestly thinking that she'd have to work harder than that to freak them out.

Liam just barely made it out of the way of the charging Vampires before getting trampled by them on his over to Blair. "It seems Twilight fever has reared its ugly head at McKinley."

Blair rolled her eyes as she walked down the hall with Liam. "I can't stand anything Twilight related. Their lore just drives me up the wall. Vampires don't freaking sparkle they burst into flames without appropriate protection."

Liam chuckled at how serious Blair seemed to be taking this. "You got a thing for Vampires, huh?"

"You could say that." Blair really wanted this line of conversation to end so she switched gears. "I talked to Mr. Schue, he's letting me back into Glee."

Upon hearing that, Liam cheered, "I won!" He cleared his throat and explained. "I was the only one with a bet placed for some day this week." Liam knew she knew all about the betting pool going around in the Club so he didn't see an issue with talking about it.

"You bet that it'd take me this long to come back? I'm not sure if I should be flattered at how well you seem to know me or offended because of the lack of faith you have in me." Blair side-eyed him. "Decisions, decisions."

"Before you plot out your wrath I should tell you that I placed a bet for ever week from now until Regionals." Liam had no shame in admitting that. "And since I won I get a gift certificate for two to Breadstix. Care to join me?"

Blair stopped when they reached Liam's locker and crossed her arms in amusement. "Mr. Fabray, are you asking me out on a date?"

Liam couldn't tell if she was teasing him or not and answered in what he hoped would be a safe way. "I just figured you'd like to share in the spoils since I do owe them to you. Unless you want it to be a date?"

Blair opened her mouth to answer then closed it because she wasn't sure what she wanted and that unnerved her. Liam was one of her friends and she didn't want anything to change about that. And now that Klaus was in the mix she had _no idea_ how that was going to make her feel, and so she just stood there looking at Liam without saying a word.

Liam felt like he'd just blown it big time. "I'm guessing dinner is a no?"

Blair cleared her throat before answering him. "I didn't say that. Granted I didn't say anything, but still. There's nothing wrong with a couple of friends having a meal together, so I'm in."

Liam closed his locker and turned to face her. "Still not ready to date, huh? Or you're just not interested in dating me?"

Blair scoffed incredulously. "Is it a crime for not wanting things to change with our friendship? If things don't work out then we not only lose the person we're dating but our friend. I'd rather not risk that."

"So you're damning us before you even give us a chance?" Now it was Liam's turn to scoff incredulously. "I didn't think you were this big of a pessimist."

Blair pressed her lips together before popping them because she realized something. "I think I now know why I end up with people I originally hated. It's to avoid all of this."

"I don't even know what to say to that." Liam tried to come up with something, anything to say but nope, nothing.

"You don't have to say anything." Blair left it at that and turned around to head to class before the bell rang.

Liam hit his locker in frustration. No matter what he tried to do it didn't seem to work out. All he wanted was for Blair to give them a chance but she was so determined not to. How could he convince her that if things didn't work that he wouldn't abandon her friendship? Then again maybe he should be grateful to have her in his life at all.

The sound of the school bell cut through Liam's thoughts, telling him to get his butt to class.

* * *

Since Kai was in town again that week Blair was to stay at his house again. She'd actually gotten used to the routine and Sue even came around to have meals and stuff with them so it really wasn't bad. And the garage was epic. Blair spent a lot of time out there working on songs whether they were original ones or covers to make a CD for Jean.

Blair wasn't playing any music at the moment so she kept the garage door open. She sat curled up in one of the chairs with a notebook and pen in hand. Blair was humming a melody when she saw Finn come up the driveway. He looked pretty distraught and Blair figured she knew what it was about. After school that day Kurt told her about how his dad was going to ask Finn and his mom to move in with them. Since Kurt made her promise not to say anything and since Finn would be finding out that night, she didn't say anything. Based off Finn's expression it was clear that perhaps she should have given him a head's up.

Blair put the pen in the notebook before setting it aside. "I'm guessing that the 'welcome home' party didn't go so well?"

Finn stopped in his tracks when she asked him that. "You knew?" He pulled over one of the folding lawn chairs and set it down beside her before taking a seat. "How could you not tell me?"

"Because I promised I wouldn't since I just found out today and you'd be finding out tonight." Blair propped her elbows on the arm of the chair and rested her chin in her hands. "If it's any consolation, you'll be living just a few houses away from me when I'm living here."

"I don't want to live with them. I want my house back. And I have to share a room with Kurt. What the hell is up with that?" Finn wasn't finding anything good in this situation.

Blair decided to give him a peal of wisdom for his current predicament. "Speaking from experience here, things will never have a chance of evolving or getting better if you don't at least open yourself up to the possibility."

Finn switched conversational gears on her there. "No offense, Blair, but I'm not going to listen to your advice when you don't even listen to it yourself. If you did take your own advice you'd have gone on a date with Liam by now." Granted he felt weird at the idea of Blair and Liam dating but he still had to make his point.

Blair lowered her hands and sat up straighter. "We're not talking about romantic relationships, Finn. We're talking family ones. And on that you can take my advice because if I didn't open myself to changes in my family I would just be miserable. I don't want you to be." She stood up and pointed down the street. "Now get back there and play game night."

Finn's brow furrowed in confusion. "How did you know it was game night?"

"This is always game night at Kurt's house. I normally go but tonight was a special occasion." Blair pulled Finn up from his seat. "Just try and give it a chance. If not for yourself or your mom or anyone else, but for me?"

Finn sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll try but I make no promises."

Blair waved as he headed back down the driveway and towards Kurt's house. "That's all I ask!" Once he left Blair kept thinking about what he said about her advice and Liam. These thoughts didn't last long due to Leyla opening up a window at the house and calling out,

"Hey, Blair! Your phone keeps ringing with the name 'Klaus' popping up on the screen. If you don't answer it I will!"

Blair rolled her eyes with a groan as she went into the house to deal with whatever conversation Klaus seemed to adamant on having. It turned out to be rather amusing because Klaus was calling to rant like a madman about how Vocal Adrenaline was doing Gaga and their director was making them wear insane red costumes. When Blair questioned why he was doing it if he hated so much his answer was simply 'we made a deal and I intend to keep up my end'.

* * *

After not so casually mentioning to the Glee Club the following day that Blair heard from a 'source' in Vocal Adrenaline telling her that they were going Lady Gaga, Mr. Schue decided they should do it, too. And after school Rachel, Quinn, and Mercedes all went with Blair to Carmel High to see what their competition was up to.

The four of them went up to the balcony in Carmel's Auditorium and were scared half to death when an accented voice said, "Lost, Love?"

"Holy Prince William," Mercedes gasped as she looked at him while fanning herself.

Before Blair could say anything, Rachel gasped,

"You're Nik Mikaelson. I follow your YouTube channel and while I think you're a bit pitchy in places, your vocal range is incredible."

"I don't think I will ever get used to the masses calling you 'Nik'." Other than Rebekah, Blair could thinking of anyone else who called Klaus that.

Rachel looked between them and it clicked. "Wait, you two know each other? Blair, this is your source?"

"Blair and I have known each other for quite a long time. Feels like centuries." Klaus grumbled as he picked up the bag holding his costume from the floor. Looking to Blair his departing words were, "Enjoy the show, Love. I certainly won't."

Once Klaus was out of earshot, Quinn asked Blair, "Where have you been hiding him? Is he single?"

"We just recently reconnected and as for being single, I have no idea but it's certainly not a good one." Blair rubbed her forehead, suddenly feeling like this was also a bad idea. "Maybe we should just go. If anyone else sees us…"

"Looking for inspiration from their ideas is not a crime," Rachel defended. "Besides, this was your idea. But if you want to back out we won't stop you."

"Thanks," Blair beamed and quietly yet quickly darted out of her seat and left the Auditorium.

Rachel's wide eyes followed Blair as she left before saying to the others, "She actually left. Well, I never…" Rachel had to shut right up because the director of Vocal Adrenaline was starting to speak and she didn't want to miss a thing.

Blair had been sitting at the bus stop for a little bit before it finally pulled up. Just when Blair paid her fare her phone beeped but she didn't check the text until after she took her seat. Her eyes went wide when she read a message from Mercedes saying, 'You missed something epic. Vocal Adrenaline's coach is Rachel's mom!'

After reading that she called up Kai. "Hey, yeah, so…I know we have an agreement but my frenemy needs me. Is it okay if I sleep at her house tonight?"

Kai didn't have an issue with that and replied with, "Tell Rachel we say 'hi'."

* * *

Surprisingly Blair made it to Rachel's house before Rachel herself did and was already settled in her room when she finally made an appearance after speaking to her fathers about her mother. At least that's what it sounded like when Blair eavesdropped a bit from the stairs.

To say Rachel was surprised when she walked into her room to find Blair and an array of sleepover stuff there would be an understatement. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, seeing as how I know what it's like to have family pop up out of nowhere I thought you might want to talk to someone who understood." Blair turned around and picked up her sewing machine case to present her another option. "Or we can work on our Gaga costumes for tomorrow?"

Rachel thought she was going to cry because it'd been so long since she and Blair felt like actual friends and even so Blair was still there for her. She went over to Blair and hugged her tight as she sniffled, "I don't think I'll ever be able to figure you out."

Blair chuckled as she hugged her back. "What can I say? I'm a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in an _awesome_ rack." She winced a bit when Rachel pulled back and looked at her weirdly. "Too much?"

Rachel nodded before laughing, "Yeah, just a little bit."

Blair laughed along with her before clapping her hands together. "So, you got a costume idea?"

Rachel thought for a second. "Yeah, actually, I do."

* * *

Blair helped Rachel make her stuffed animal costume that night. They sewed the little stuffed animals together onto a dress into a weird mosaic like design. _But_ Blair was a little sneaky and didn't sew it as well as she could have. Why? Because she thought it might give Rachel a little push towards trying to connect with her mom. It was probably stupid but whenever Blair's Alter needed help in the clothing department whether it was sewing or deciding, she always went to her mom. Blair was applying that logic and hope to Rachel.

Once that was done Blair worked on her purple dress covered with dark purple butterflies. To go with it, Blair sewed on a butterfly wing cape that hand fingerholes so when Blair raised her arms it showed off the wing pattern.

Both Blair and Rachel wore their outfits to school the next day as well as to Glee for their Gaga performance. By then the entire Club knew that the coach of Vocal Adrenaline was Rachel's mother.

All the girls and Kurt put on a production of 'Bad Romance' and honestly it was one of the most freeing performances Blair had ever been a part of. It was fun and expressive and over the top and so theatrical. Suffice to say, she loved every second of it. But at the end of it, it was clear that not all the guys in Glee agreed. Blair had a gut feeling there was a lesson in there somewhere but couldn't quite see it yet.

Apparently Blair's little outfit scheme worked because when Rachel's outfit eventually started losing its stuffed animals she left while the guys were getting ready for their set and when she returned she was wearing an _epic_ outfit. Blair smiled to herself when Rachel announced that her mother had made it then all attention was turned to the stage for the guys' Glee performance.

Blair laughed and cheered and whistled when the curtains opened and revealed on stage how the rest of Glee were dressed up as KISS members and those who had taken liberties since there were more guys than members of the epic band. They sang 'Shout It' and it was so freaking cool. If they did something like that for Regionals then there was no way they wouldn't win because just like with Gaga it was expressive and freeing and oh so epic.

* * *

Blair talked about all that with Klaus when he came over to Kai's that evening after his 'So, this is what you left us for?' bit he did whenever he was around a different aspect of her life in this Reality.

Presently Blair was sitting out in the garage again while Klaus went into the house for a couple of sodas. She was just about to go back to work on her song when Finn came up the driveway. He looked even worse than he did the last time he made a random appearance. If Blair had to guess she would have said he had been crying.

Blair set her notebook aside once again and went over when he joined her in the garage. "Finn, what happened?"

"I – I lost it, Blair. I – I went off on Kurt about being gay and I…" Finn looked away because he didn't think he could talk to her about this. He didn't want her pissed at him to the point where she didn't want anything more to do with him.

Blair had no idea what the ending of his sentence was going to be and she was really starting to worry. "Finn, what happened?"

Finn sniffled and cleared his throat. "Kurt redecorated the room and I lost it. I called the lamp and blanket he picked out 'faggy'. The Burt came down and after verbally kicking my ass he kicked me out of the house."

If Finn was anyone else she would have punched him for what he said to Kurt and she actually had to hold her hands together to keep herself from doing it anyway. "Why the hell would you say something like that? How the hell could you say something like that? Do you know even know what that means?"

"I know!" Finn rubbed his hands over his hair. "It means something bad for gay people."

"You don't know the half of it," Klaus answered as he appeared with two sodas in hand. "The word 'fag' originally meant a bundle of branches. These bundles would be burned, especially when one was being burned at the stake." He set the sodas down on the table as he continued. "Did you know when Witches were burned in Europe they would also burn homosexuals? Only they didn't even given them the dignity of being burned at the stake. No, anyone who was guilty of what they believed to be a sin were thrown right into the fire – right into the pile of fags." Klaus walked right up to Finn, looking as if he wanted to punch him as well. "Think about what you are truly saying the next time you think of uttering the word."

Finn opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the words. Instead he just turned around and walked away in silence.

Blair didn't try to stop Finn from leaving because she was too upset to even bear near him. She slowly sat down in her seat and said, "Thank you," to Klaus for giving Finn that history lesson. Hopefully it left an impression.

Klaus sat down beside Blair and handed over her soda. "Are you thanking me for what I said or for not beating him to a pulp? Because I so desperately wanted to."

Blair opened her can with a sigh. Right before taking a drink she answered him, "Both."

* * *

At school the next day Blair wore a different version of her butterfly costume. This time it was a black floor-length gown covered with silver butterflies and the wing cape was silver-winged as well. She wasn't feeling the purple that day. This whole Gaga thing was about expression and theatricality and all that jazz, so that's what Blair was doing with this change of attire. Her outlook was darker that day and chose this to express it.

Blair was at her locker applying the black lipstick while looking into the mirror on the door when she felt someone come up behind her. She turned around and found Liam standing there with an envelope in his hand. When he handed it out to her, she accepted it and opened it. Blair pulled out its contents which happened to be a hand-made gift certificate and read aloud what it said. "This entitles Blair Alden Han unlimited punches towards Liam Fabray if their friendship is destroyed after a failed dating period."

After she finished reading it, Liam shrugged. "Being your personal punching bag is better than nothing at all."

Blair turned to slip the certificate into the top shelf of her locker before closing the door. "Okay."

Liam wasn't sure he heard her right. "What?"

"I said 'okay'. Let's give it a try." Blair kissed Liam's check before walking away, leaving black lipstick marks behind.

Liam felt the residual lipstick upon his skin but he didn't care and wore it with pride.

* * *

Blair was on her way to Glee rehearsal after school when she remembered she forgot the song she wanted to present to Mr. Schue in her locker. Blair was on her way to get it when the sound of Kurt's voice caught her attention. She went down the other hall and found Karofsky and another football asshat harassing Kurt and threating to punch him.

Blair pushed Karofsky away and stood protectively in front of Kurt, seething, "Don't you ignorant assholes ever learn?! If either of you even try to lay a finger on him I will end you in this life and any other life we may cross paths in."

Karofsky's buddy laughed at her display. "The little butterfly thinks she can hurt us. Newsflash, girlie. You're only as strong as your sucker punch and we're not suckers."

Blair answered that kicking him right below the belt to prove him wrong. "Oh, really?"

"Don't care if you're a girl. You're going to get the same treatment as your fairy friend." Karofsky was about to step forward and deal with them but was stopped by Finn's presence.

Seeing Finn standing there in a red rubber dress with matching eye mask on his face was shocking for pretty much all of them.

Finn stood firm and tall. "You're not going to hurt either of them." After making that clear, he said to Kurt and Blair. "Kurt, Blair, I want to thank you both and Blair's British friend. I realize I still have a lot to learn, but the reason I'm here right now…in a shower curtain is because of you. And I'm not going to let anyone lay a hand on either of you."

Karofsky wasn't intimidated. "Oh, really, dude? Because I'm pretty sure we can take you, the Asian chick, and the fairy."

"But can you take all of us?" Puck asked as he and the rest of the Glee club joined them, all wearing their theatricality costumes.

The asshats changed their tune at this turn of events. After making some comments about them all being freaks and stating next time they'd have friends to back them up too, they walked off.

Blair had half a mind to go after them and pound them into next Tuesday but she had other matters to attend to. She went up to Finn and wiggled her finger for him to come down lower. When he obliged, Blair smacked him on the back of the head. "Took you long enough to smarten up."

Finn rubbed the back of his head with a chuckle. "I deserved that."

"Damn right you did." Blair waved her arms around saying, "No I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to take their stigma of 'freak' and wear it pride. Who's willing to let their freak flag fly with me?"

The Club all stood with her on that and finally Finn said, "It's unanimous. We're all freaks together and we shouldn't have to hide it."

Blair held out her arms again, showing off the butterfly wings and asked, "Let our freak flags fly?"

A second later the entire Club cheered out, "Let our freak flags fly!"

Oh yeah, this was definitely going into the list of reasons to convince Klaus why she needed to stay. After all this how could she even possibly leave? They all had so much more growing up to do and lessons to learn and Blair they'd all be able to experience it together.

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 20


	21. Complicated

"How was your date with Quinn's brother?" Sue asked as soon as Blair got home that evening. "You've been seeing quite a bit of each other recently. Do I need to worry about you?" She was concerned about Blair's wellbeing, especially after what almost happened when things blew up at the end of her relationship with Puck.

Blair had to give Sue some props for managing to get all that out before she had even closed the door. "It was fun, and spending a lot of time together isn't anything new. It just means…more now." She hung up her coat and went into the kitchen to get a drink. "As far as worrying about me goes, you're going to worry no matter what I say."

Sue leaned back against the counter with crossed arms as she stared her down. "Blair, do I need to worry about you?"

"I'm fully capable of having a relationship without it ending horribly." As soon as those words came out of her mouth, her expression dropped. Almost every single relationship she had in her Reality did not end well at all and it seemed to follow her in this one as well.

Sue saw Blair's expression drop and instantly thought the worse. "Where did you go just now?"

Blair snapped out of her thoughts and smiled. "It's nothing, worrier godmother of mine. I'm fine and things are different with Liam. He was my friend first and maybe, despite all my worries, that will make the difference." She shrugged and headed towards her room. "We'll see."

Sue didn't like the uncertainty of this relationship and especially didn't appreciate that Blair didn't even tell her about it. It wasn't until Blair witnessed an innocent PDA in the school's hallway that she knew and had to then ask her about it. Sue didn't like how little they'd been talking lately and with the arrangement with Kai who seemed to be in town a lot more often now, it felt like Blair was hardly ever home.

In hopes of getting Blair to talk to her more, she asked, "What's the deal with you and Klaus? He left a message for you earlier." She went over to the answering machine and pushed 'play'. A moment later Klaus' voice spoke from the machine, saying,

"An antiquated messaging system? So, this is what you left us for? I expected better, Love."

Blair laughed at Klaus' bit because of how often he'd been saying it. He never sounded serious whenever he said it and seemed to fit those words in whenever he could. After her laughter ceased, she explained to Sue, "We're just friends…sort of. No big deal."

Sue had a feeling there was more to it than that. "And what is the whole 'left us' thing about?"

Blair came up with a lie on the spot she hoped would be believable enough. "He tried to get me to attend Carmel High so I could join Vocal Adrenaline. To try and mess with them I said I would, but didn't and that's what he's talking about."

Sue still thought there was more to this story than what Blair was telling her but clearly it wasn't going to be shared so she slightly segued a bit. "Oh that reminds me. Vocal Adrenaline will be giving your little Glee Club a bit of a display at school tomorrow."

Okay, that caught her attention. "What do you mean by that? And how would you even know?"

"Because I helped them with their soundcheck. If your Club wants to be the best then they have to beat the best." Sue clapped her hand on Blair's shoulder. "Good luck."

Blair followed Sue down the hallway. "You have got to stop this, please! Stop the sabotaging and the scheming and the messed up methods of teaching lessons. I know you're trying to be the villain to give me and the others something to focus on and defeat, but enough is enough."

Sue stopped in the doorway of her personal bedroom and turned to explain something to Blair. "You are my responsibility. It is up to me to make sure you are capable of handling _anything_ life has to throw at you. You've come a long way goddaughter of mine, but you have a _long_ way to do. And as far as most of your Glee Clubbers, they have even longer. You can hate me and my methods all you want, but that's not going to change me or the way I do things. You'll thank me for it one day." To end the conversation she stepped back into her room and closed the door.

Blair groaned in anger in frustration before retreating to her own room and slamming the bedroom door. After taking a few deep breaths, she pulled out her cellphone to call Klaus. When he answered she started right in on him, "I don't care what you and your Alter's Vocal Adrenaline buddies are up to, but all I have to say to that is **bring it**." Before he could even attempt at a response she ended the call and turned off her phone to keep him from trying to call her back.

Apparently no matter what life she lived or Reality she ventured to, she'd always end up having to deal with some sort of villain. And once again the villain was someone she cared very much about. Were all the universes in agreement about that? Was Blair destined to be challenged by those she loved the most no matter what Reality she was in? If that was the case then the cosmos were truly messed up. Then again, maybe it was all part of her Curse and not even running away to a different Reality could allow her to escape it.

* * *

Even with knowing what Vocal Adrenaline was up to and warning the Glee members about it, it still didn't fully prepare them for what their competition had in store. Vocal Adrenaline kicked ass when they sang and performed 'Another Ones Bites the Dust'. And to make matters worse, Jesse transferred back to Carmel High and was Vocal Adrenaline's male lead once again.

Blair knew in her gut that Jesse was not who he appeared to be and showed his true colors during that performance, and while seeing Klaus up on stage amused her to no end the whole performance pissed her off. It made her even more determined to win at Regionals but it just seemed to put everyone into a funk. Finn and Liam compared it to when the football team would prank the opposing team to get into their heads. While that was a good comparison, no one could seem to get out of the funk as they made their way down to the Choir Room.

Rachel was still reeling over the fact that Jesse had betrayed the Club but allowed herself a moment to think about something else – something she wanted to say to Blair. "I thought Nik was like your informant or something?"

"Klaus is complicated." That was all Blair could really say on the matter. It's not like she could explain the whole Alter thing and the agreement with Klaus and everything else. Damn…Blair thought keeping this stuff to herself was hard before but now that Klaus was in the picture it just made everything all the more complicated.

"Hope you're not going to trust him after this," Liam commented. "Just like Jesse, he made it clear where his loyalties lie."

"With Glee stuff, no way. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to trust him otherwise." Blair knew oh so well what Klaus was like but he never directly did anything to hurt her and whenever he made a promise to her he kept it. Until or unless he did something otherwise her trust in him wouldn't falter.

Just then they entered the Choir Room to find it had been completely toilet papered. Blair scoffed at the immaturity of this action. "I give Carmel props for using the performance to mess with us, but this? This is just petty as hell." She tore down a bunch of toilet paper from the ceiling in anger. Her fury just seemed to grow with every piece she tore away until Liam wrapped his arms around her.

"Breathe, Blair. Just breathe." Liam recognized this level of anger. It was so beyond that of getting Slushied. In fact it was bordering on how she became when they were at the mall and someone insulted her race. At the time Blair didn't punch the racist ass but he witnessed her punching a hole in a wall at Kai's place. He didn't want her reaching that level again.

Blair tried to get out of his arms but he held tight and finally she gave in and took deep breaths to try and calm herself. It eventually worked and he released her. As much as she appreciated him caring about it, it also pissed her off. "Don't ever do that again."

Liam tried to say something to her but she left the room before he could. He intended on going after her but didn't get the chance due to Puck's words.

"Let her go, man. Trust me, she needs space right now."

"I'm not going to take advice from you about _my_ girlfriend," Liam snapped back.

Finn stepped in there because they didn't need a fight breaking out between them on top of everything else. "Then listen to me. Man, listen to everyone in this room. We all know to give Blair her space when she erupts so we don't burned. You're no exception to that."

As much as Liam didn't want to admit they were right, he had to. So instead of following after Blair he helped the others to start cleaning up the room and assisted in filling in Mr. Schue on what happened when he joined them.

* * *

Blair just needed some time to herself to regroup. Her anger had gotten a shorter fuse as of late and as much as she didn't think he deserved the blame, she blamed Klaus for it. She knew he was there because he was concerned about her getting to attached to this Reality and thus never returning back to her own, but it was just making things worse. Blair just wanted to live her life without having to worry about what Klaus was up to but that clearly wasn't what she was going to get. And her hope that Klaus' Alter blending with him making a difference didn't seem to do much. Things were just getting so messed up and, yes, complicated.

It didn't help matters when Blair returned to the Choir Room right at the moment when Mr. Schue threw one of Sue's trophies onto the floor with such force that he shattered it. "What the Farquaad?!"

Sue held her arm out to keep Blair from going any further than she had and looked directly at Mr. Schue as she spoke. "It's alright, Blair. Trophies for me are like herpes. You can try to get rid of them, but they just keep coming. You know why? Sue Sylvester has hourly flare-ups of burning, itchy, Highly contagious talent. Enjoy your last few days here. This room is mine." She turned to Blair and squeezed her shoulder before leaving the room.

Blair flexed her hands and clenched her fists before saying clearly, "We all know Sue's got some messed up methods of inspiration. Don't take whatever she said and let it push you down. Use it and fire yourselves up. That's the only way to work with her."

"You shouldn't have to deal with that all the time." Mr. Schue couldn't even imagine how Blair lived under the same roof as Sue.

"I've dealt with worse, Mr. Schue. Trust me." Without another word she went over to Kurt and helped him gather up some more toilet paper to get the room clean as soon as possible.

* * *

Blair didn't even wait until after school before going to talk with Sue. As soon as Sue was alone in her office, Blair barged right in and slammed the door behind her. "I asked you for one thing, Sue! And you can't even do that! Why the hell are you doing this?!"

"Watch your tone, young lady. As for why I'm doing what I'm doing, you already know the answer to that. I give you my word that you will thank me one day." Sue returned her glasses to her eyes and went back to her paperwork.

Blair went over to Sue's desk and slapped her hands on top of it. "You're pushing too far this time. You're pushing _me_ too far. However you intend to proceed with you messed up plan, just don't." She stepped back and gestured to the floor. "You want me to beg on my hands and knees? Because I will."

Sue sighed and took off her glasses. "This isn't a lesson for you. At least not this time. I know you have the fire but they don't. You're stronger than them, so you don't need to do anything. Just sit back and let it happen. That's it. It's not that hard."

Blair put her hands over her face and screamed before speaking in an incredulous tone, "You want me to just sit by and do nothing while you tear down and manipulate a group of people that I care about?! You seriously expect me to do that?!"

"Yes," Sue answered simply. "Yes, I do. Because if you have any chance of winning at Regionals – something you need to do in order for Glee to survive – then your Club needs to have the same fire that you have. Right now they're just little flickering flames that blow out at the first sign of trouble. True, they eventually reignite but I'm trying to make it so they are infernos that _never_ goes out."

Blair felt like she was pounding her head against a brick wall and getting nowhere because of it. "There are so many better ways to make that happen. You don't have to tear everybody down in order to make them build themselves back up."

Sue crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair as she looked at her goddaughter. "You call yourself a dragon but I see you more as a phoenix. You're risen from the ashes and are stronger because of it. Why is it a crime to want that for the others?" She gestured to the door because this conversation was over. "Now get to class before you get more time added to your grounding."

"I'm not done talking about this, and what do you mean grounding? I'm not grounded."

Sue scoffed a chuckle. "Coming in here and yelling at me like this? You most certainly are. Now get to class."

Blair held her hands out in front of her and squeezed before storming out of the office with a strong groan of frustration.

Sue sighed as Blair left. She hoped Blair would understand but it was clear she wasn't there yet. No matter. Sue was convinced that one day Blair would indeed thank her for everything.

* * *

Things seemed to start getting back to normal. Their assignment for the week was 'Funk' and while Quinn nailed it, Mercedes, Puck, and Finn did not. Their incorrect song choice was blamed on the funk the Carmel kids put them in but even so, things seemed to be getting back to the way things were. At least until Rachel told them what Jesse and the other Vocal Adrenaline kids did to her.

When Blair heard that those assholes egged Rachel it put her in such a rage. The guys felt the same and were more than ready to go to Carmel High and beat the crap out of Jesse but Mr. Schue stopped them before they could leave the Choir Room. That didn't mean Blair didn't manage to sneak away because when Mr. Schue was dealing with the guys, she slipped out the other door.

Blair was so angry that she couldn't even see straight. It wasn't just because of what they did to Rachel but that Klaus didn't even warn her about it. He _knows_ the kind of effect that kind of humiliation has on a person and yet did nothing. That was such a betrayal in her book and was starting to make her believe that maybe he couldn't be trusted after all.

When Blair arrived at Carmel's Auditorium they were in the middle of rehearsing – surprisingly without their director there - but that didn't stop her from storming up the stage steps and punching Jesse right in the face before anyone could stop her.

Everyone in the room erupted in that moment, the Vocal members surrounding Jesse and if it wasn't for Klaus keeping Blair away from Jesse she would have done a hell of a lot more than just punch him.

"Calm down, Love. I'm not in a position to clean up your mess if you kill him." Klaus had no idea why Blair had just done what she did but knew her well enough to know it was likely for a good reason.

"Like hell you don't!" Blair shouted back at him. "How dare you stand there and tell me you don't know that they egged Rachel! How could you let that happen?!"

Klaus' face hardened when he heard what she said. "They **did what**?"

Blair could tell by the look in his eyes that he truly had no idea what they had done. "You didn't know."

"After what happened with Anne do you truly believe I would let it happen?" Klaus looked at her before turning around and pointing at Jesse. "You are lucky this is the world we live in. If we happen to meet in another _that_ is when you will pay."

"What is going on here?" Shelby, the Vocal coach, demanded to know as she went onto the stage and saw Jesse had a bloody nose. "What happened?"

"That psycho punched Jesse for no reason!" One of the girls shouted as she pointed towards Blair.

"No reason?" Klaus scoffed before charging towards them. "No reason?!" This time it was Blair who had to hold Klaus back.

"I don't have the resources here to clean up your mess either, Klaus." Blair didn't let go of his arm until she was certain he wouldn't do anything stupid.

Shelby was growing impatient. "Someone better tell me what is going on now!"

"Ask him." Klaus pointed at Jesse. "And as for me; Consider this my resignation from Vocal Adrenaline and Carmel High." He took off his blue team jacket and dropped it onto the floor before guiding Blair away.

Shelby scoffed and turned around to look at Jesse and those who were part of his posse. "What did you do?"

* * *

Klaus brought Blair back to McKinley and escorted her to the Choir Room to make sure she didn't try to break away and finish what was started. As they walked down the hall he observed something, "You still have that Wolf anger, Love. You need to keep that in check in a mundane Reality like this one."

"I've been doing just fine until you showed up and made things complicated." Blair didn't let him get another word out and went into the Choir Room before him.

Mr. Schue went straight over to Blair. "There you are. Ms. Corcoran called and said you punched Jesse. Anger and violence aren't the answer."

"You can't teach an old Wolf new tricks," Klaus commented from the doorway.

"What is he doing here?" Liam demanded to know. "You another spy to try and ruin us?"

Klaus scoffed lightly at this. "I would need to be associated with Vocal Adrenaline to be a spy. Seeing as how I quit their club I have no intention of joining another. I will, however, give you a piece of information to help take them down."

"And why should we believe you?" Puck asked, siding with Liam on the whole not trusting him thing.

"Besides the fact I care about Blair? Consider it a gift of apology for Rachel. That form of humiliation was not deserved and had I known about it I would have stopped it." Klaus saw that 'funk' was written on the whiteboard. "Appropriate. Vocal Adrenaline has never been able to pull off a funk number. They don't have the fire that's needed but I can clearly see that you do. You want to give them a taste of their own medicine? Do that."

 _And that's_ _ **exactly**_ _what they did._

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 21


	22. It's time - Season 1 Finale

Blair sat across from Liam at Breadstix but she really wasn't feeling their date. It wasn't the place or the company but her headspace. Before leaving to meet him there, Sue told her that she was one of the Celebrity Judges for Regionals. Blair had no idea if that meant they'd be a sure thing as far as winning went or if that meant Sue would vote against them as one of her lessons. The lesson likely being that nothing lasts forever. Blair couldn't help but think about this and was thus quiet because of it.

Liam knew as soon as she arrived at the restaurant that something was bothering it. This kind of worry that was plastered upon her face wasn't something he'd seen before. It was almost like it was worry mixed with considering options, almost like she was weighing the different possibilities and was expressing accordingly.

Finally Liam had to break the silence. "What's going on? You've been quiet all night."

Blair set her drink down with a sigh. "Sorry. I have a lot on my mind." She decided to rip off the Band-Aid and throw him onto her thought train. "Sue's one of the judges at Regionals."

Liam wasn't expecting to hear that. "Oh shit. She's either going to be our golden ticket or crush us." He was about to say something else but switched gears. "Wait, isn't that a conflict of interest or something? She's judging a Glee competition that you're a part of."

"I actually thought about that and tried to use it against her but apparently there's some loophole that allows her to be a judge." Blair tapped a breadstick on her plate. "This is going to crush the Club. Everyone is going to think she's going to crush the Club and I don't even know what she's going to do." She dropped the stick and dropped her face into her hands. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

"Whatever the problem is, Love, I'm sure you can handle it."

Blair bolted her head up to see Klaus standing there wearing a waiter's uniform. Seeing him dressed like that made her burst out laughing. "Nice outfit."

"Thank you. I do pull it off nicely, don't I?" Klaus smirked at him as he refilled their waters and moved onto another table since hers wasn't in his section but had to make his presence known.

Liam set his water glass aside. "That guy's like a Jack-in-the-box. He keeps popping up unexpectedly." Even though he didn't know Klaus other than the brief exposure to him, Liam didn't like him one bit. It didn't help matters when Klaus seemed to know Blair better than anyone else and yet was someone Blair had never mentioned before. "How do you two know each other anyway?"

Blair cleared her throat and drank some more water. "We go way back."

"That's what you always say. How did you guys meet?"

"It's not a big deal, Liam." Honestly she wanted this conversation to be over and done with.

"Was there something going on between you two? I see the way he looks at you." Yeah…Liam was getting pretty jealous.

"You're getting jealous over nothing. It's like freaking history repeating. I had this same damn conversation with Puck." Blair looked away with a scoff.

"Don't talk to me about your relationship with Puck." That was the last thing he wanted to hear about. "After what he did I can't believe you're friends with him."

"Oh, so now you've got a problem with who my friends are?" Blair was starting to lose her temper.

Not all friends, just Puck. "He almost destroyed you!"

"His lies did, **not** him. Puck made mistakes, a hell of a lot of them, but no one is freaking perfect. I'm done hating him. I'm accepting him and moving on. If you have a problem with that then maybe we shouldn't be dating." Blair hadn't expected that last sentence to come out of her mouth, but it did. And honestly she didn't regret saying it. When she and Liam were friends things were so different but now it felt like…she felt like things were different and not in a good way. Blair had been trying to convince herself that it was just new and they'd find their rhythm but they hadn't, and it was starting to feel like they never would.

"Well I do have a problem with it, so I guess that's that." Liam put some money on the table for the bill and stood up to leave. "You were right, trying to be more than friends isn't for us. See you in class."

Blair didn't try to stop him when he walked off and just slouched in her seat before gathering up her things and leaving as well. She and Liam had just broken up but she didn't feel horribly about it because from the very beginning this was something she didn't want to do but tried it anyway. It was a failed experiment that she wouldn't dare to repeat again.

* * *

Once it became common knowledge that Sue was one of the Regionals judges the Glee Club became pretty bummed out. It pissed Blair off that some of them were putting it on her shoulders as to whether or not they'd win. Blair had zero control over Sue and made that perfectly clear at their next rehearsal.

Mr. Schue told the Club to lay off Blair because, like she said, Sue Sylvester was going to do whatever it was she wanted to, and what they could do was give it their all to do their very best. He gave them an inspirational speech about how far they had come and where they might and all the journeys they would have. To end it he informed the Club that they were doing a Journey medley at Regionals. What better way to pay homage to the song that kept Mr. Schue was quitting and to represent their individual journeys they have already embarked upon.

Blair didn't tell Sue any of this when she went home that night and didn't tell Kai either during their Skype call when she wanted to confirmed he and Leyla would be there for the performance. She did, however, tell him about breaking up with Liam. It was weird how quickly Liam went back to how they were when they were friends and it was honestly a little unnerving for her.

Kai pointed out to Blair they hadn't been dating very long so there likely wouldn't be much damage to their friendship and since it sounded mutual he encouraged her not to worry about it.

Their conversation ended soon after that when Sue came into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and a few DVDs in hand. Blair closed up her laptop, saying, "I'm not up for movie night. I have homework and stuff to do."

"Uh huh. So this has nothing to do with me being a judge?" Sue didn't buy that for a second. "Sit down and pick out a movie. Gay superheroes fighting over their lover, fairy tales on crack, or The Princess Bride?"

Blair couldn't help but smile at Sue's movie descriptions. "You can't call Avengers Civil War or Hoodwinked by their titles but Princess Bride is alright?"

"The Princess Bride deserves it title to be spoken properly." It was one of her favorite movies after all, though not many knew that.

Blair thought for a moment before agreeing. "Fair enough. Princess Bride it is." As Sue put the DVD into the player, Blair asked her something. "Can you do me a favor, Sue? And really mean it?"

Sue had a feeling as to what this would be about. "I give you my word that I will judge fairly." She returned to her seat on the sofa and hit the play button on the remote. "I swear on my friendship with your parents that there will be no shenanigans where I am concerned."

Blair gasped at Sue's words because Sue may be a lot of things but there was no way she'd vow on her parents like that and not mean it. This made Blair hug Sue tight and sniffle, "Thank you."

"I may be diabolical but that doesn't make me evil." Sue hugged Blair back and cleared her throat. "Enough of this mushy stuff. Westley and Buttercup await."

* * *

Regionals had finally arrived! New Directions, after a moment or two of doubt, went out onto that stage and sung their hearts out. They let themselves fall into the music and enjoyed the hell out of it when they did. At the end of their set there was no doubt they'd at the very least place if not win the whole damn thing.

Things took an interesting turn after their set because, well, not only did Quinn and Liam's mom show up and talk to them backstage about how she threw their father out of the house for an affair he'd been having but also because Quinn's water broke.

Presently the entire Glee Club was rushing down the hospital's hallway to get Quinn seen by a doctor immediately. Thankfully the hospital kicked into gear and brought Quinn right into a room.

Blair went over to Liam who was freaking out a bit. "Gonna use your words against ya here. Just breathe, Liam."

Liam cleared his throat and took a couple deep breaths to calm his nerves. After a bout of silence he said, "I'm sorry."

Blair was confused. "Sorry about what?"

"Pushing you to try things differently with me. We work as friends, I get it. I won't try to push you anymore."

Blair took Liam's hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "Thank you for saying that." She smiled lightly. "Who knows, things might change in the future."

Liam had his doubts about that. "You really think so?"

Blair shared his doubts and winced a bit. "Not really."

They shared a laugh between them before also sharing a hug. Despite Liam's conflicting feelings about the whole situation he would stay true to his word and be her friend. If her feelings never changed then so be it, but if by the slightest chance they did he'd be there.

* * *

After Quinn had her baby Liam and Puck stayed behind at the Hospital while the rest of the Club went back to Regionals to hear the Judge's announcements. Blair looked out onto the crowd and smiled wide when she saw Kai and Leyla sitting towards the middle and waving at her before giving thumbs-ups. She waved just enough to let them know she saw them and a few rows back she spotted Klaus giving her his signature 'finger wave'. Blair _almost_ flipped him off in a joking manner in reply but kept it to herself.

The time had finally come. The celebrity judges came out and Sue opened the first envelope to announce the runners-up were Aural Intensity from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Nerves were on edge for all of the New Directioners when Sue picked up the first place envelope. After much hated tension build up, she announced the winners were Vocal Adrenaline.

Blair's spirit dropped so low upon hearing those words come from Sue's mouth. They didn't win or even place and that meant one thing…Glee Club was over. Blair felt like she couldn't breathe and needed to get off the stage so she quickly left it and went backstage while Vocal Adrenaline cheered and pretty much rubbed it into their faces that they won.

Much to Blair's surprise she found Klaus coming towards her backstage and without even thinking about her words she said, "I'm ready. Give me a few days and we can go back."

Klaus looked towards the stage and back to her. "Because you didn't win?"

Blair shook her head because that wasn't the case, not really. "Because my Alter can't handle any more disappointment which means I can't either. And I really can't afford to go back to that dark place in my mind again, Klaus. I can't. My Alter will be able to handle it without my baggage."

Klaus didn't know what Blair was referring to but he wasn't going to argue. "Alright. In a few days we'll go home."

* * *

Blair spent the weekend making CDs for each member of the Glee Club, Mr. Schue, Sue, Kai, and Leyla so they'd have something from her. It didn't matter that when she returned to her Reality that her Alter would still be present and have all the memories that only pertained to this Gleeful Reality, Blair needed to leave something behind from her.

When Monday rolled around Blair only went to school to hand out her 'consolation prizes' as she called them then bailed before the last Glee meeting ever. As much as Blair wanted to say goodbye to Finn and everyone else, she couldn't. Blair couldn't have her Alter remembering that she said goodbye but not knowing why. Th CDs and smiles and laughs that were shared before she left would have to do. They were certainly something she'd carry with her forever.

Blair and Klaus agreed to meet at Kai's garage for their departure. Kai was out of town again so they didn't have to worry about getting walked in on when they did the ritual Bonnie taught Klaus so they could return.

Klaus was already inside the garage when Blair came in. "Have any doubts, Love?"

"Let's just get this over with." Blair moved to stand in front of Klaus who had his hand held out, ready for her to take them.

Blair was just about to place her hands in his to get this Reality jumping started but paused when she heard her phone beep. "I need to check this. It will drive me nuts if I don't."

Klaus could give her that. He lowered his hands with a, "Make it quick."

Blair pulled her phone out of her back pocket and turned it on to read a text message from Finn that read, 'Where are you?! You missed the best news! Glee is getting another year!'. She covered her mouth as she gasped upon reading the message. She had no idea how or why it happened but it did and that was everything.

Klaus was starting to regret letting her check her phone. He raised his hands again for Blair to take them. "It's time to go, Love." When Blair didn't take her eyes off the phone he repeated, "It's time."

Blair set the cellphone aside and took a step forward towards Klaus as a million different thoughts went through her mind as she moved her hands over his, trying to make up her mind as quickly as possible if her next decision would be for the best or the worst…

* * *

End Season 1 Episode 22 – Season 1 Finale

* * *

 **A/N: Hey, Readers! This story has come a long way from something I wasn't certain I was going to finish or not. Hope you enjoyed Blair's adventure in Glee so far and thanks for reading!**


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